Kaine takes up for Virginia’s jobless
Less than a week after House Republicans thwarted his attempt to extend unemployment insurance to more Virginians, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is taking his fight for additional stimulus funds directly to the people.
And while he's at it, he's taking another shot at GOP lawmakers.
"These are Virginians who are struggling to make ends meet and to keep a foothold in a very difficult economy," Kaine writes in an e-mail to the mailing list of his political-action committee, Moving Virginia Forward.
"And instead of getting a hand across the aisle from the House Republicans, Virginia got the back of their hand."
The governor then urges supporters to sign on to an e-mail petition demanding that GOP lawmakers return to Richmond for a reconvened session and "do the right thing."
Last week, the General Assembly, fueled by the Republican majority in the House of Delegates, defeated Kaine's amendments that would have enabled Virginia to collect an additional $125.5 million in federal stimulus funds.
Virginia would qualify for the funds only if it changed the rules of who qualifies for unemployment benefits to include both part-time workers who lose a job and unemployed workers who are enrolled in job-training programs.
Backed by business groups, most GOP lawmakers opposed the legislation. They said it would be a disincentive for part-time workers to seek full-time work. They said it also would increase already rising unemployment insurance costs to businesses once the stimulus funds run out.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds yesterday called Republican candidate Bob McDonnell's opposition to the unemployment legislation "a heartless act."
McDonnell's campaign yesterday called for an end to "political posturing" and said McDonnell is working to find a way for the federal government to remove the requirement that would force Virginia to change its unemployment program to qualify for the funds.
"The long-term impact of the current mandate will be harmful to job growth and economic development," spokesman Tucker Martin said. He said McDonnell is calling on all leaders to "stop the politics and put the focus on the people of Virginia."
Del. William R. Janis, R-Henrico, said Kaine's letter was "a political stunt" that was "contrived and calculated to generate a partisan, political issue in an election year, not to build bipartisan consensus for policy change that would benefit Virginia's unemployed."
Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or
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Reader Reactions
This is what politicians/lawyers do best, play both ends against the middle.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Those GOP members of the GA voted according to their CONSTIUENTS desires!
You can fault politicians all day, but when their e-mails, mailboxes, and phones are filled with people saying “STOP SPENDING MY MONEY!“ They do what their citizens TELL THEM!!!
So the Republicans are bad because they refuse to take money with federal “strings” attached? Give me a break. The end result is not worth this federal government public “band aid”. I will give the democrats one thing…they are masters of making themselves look like the average joe’s champion. The key word “look”. People need to wise up and stop falling for the drivel the dems are trying to get over on us. I never thought Americans would become mindless sheep who thrive on hand outs.
Sambear you keep posting that long drivel and somebody may take the time to read it.
The give aways that are permeating our government at the current time will have to be paid for eventually. This will involve higher taxes and fees. No one gets a free ride unless they sit with their hands out. Notice how all the Democrats programs won’t show any real improvements until 2011 or 2012. Could that be after the next election? All this hollering about the nasty Republicans is jsut setting them up to use it as an excuse for their programs when they fail. It won’t matter that the majority Democrats should not need the Republicans to pass all these handouts. How many Democrats voted against this in the GA? Can any one answer that? No then let us get all the facts before we cast the first stone as our backstabbing, whinning, givaway the house Governer is doing.
Timmy is obviously too stupid to figure out that if you put more cost on business, business cuts jobs to balance out the extra cost. Business HELPS the unemployed by creating jobs. When you put more cost on business, business HURTS the unemployed. My third-grade son understands this! What is Timmy’s problem? For that matter, why can’t liberals add one plus one and figure this out?
The object is to CREATE jobs, not KILL jobs! Taking this stimulus money and having to raise the money to fund it every year WILL KILL JOBS! It will hurt the unemployed and hurt any economic recovery we might see. There is absolutely no question about this! This is absolute written-in-stone fact!
This could be the year that both houses of the GA go Democratic. What an amazingly fast turnaround.
If the deepest unemployment is in the Martinsville area, the Republicans can’t count on Southwest VA to be their solid anchor.
Kaine is just expanding on Obama’s agenda of starting a class war and it’s working. The notion of people that think government should take care of their every want and need is growing. Problem is who is going to pay for all these “freebies” Already our deficit is running over a trillion dollars, the state is billions short yet we have many wanting to spend and hand out even more.
Since when does the constitution allow government to tax businesses to pay those out of work?
“The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets.“
—James Madison, Federalist No. 10
If Kaine and all the other Democrats really care, they could take the money they will collect for campaigning and donate it to charities and causes that help those down on their luck. It is very easy to be ‘compassionate’ when one is getting the money for it out of someone else’s pocket. By the way, who DOES get all that campaign moolah? Bet ya’ they aren’t anywhere near an unemployment line.
Republicans most certainly do care about the plight of every unemployed Virginian as well as the health of all Virginians as well as educational needs of all Virginians and on and on. The disconnect occurs with how to fund all these legitimate issues. You simply cannot continue to rob Peter to pay Paul, and Mary, and Joe, and Steve and Suzy and every other hand. Governor Kaine, if the issue is so dear to you, find the $125M in your existing budget to help the folks and stop with the red-faced finger-pointing gyrations.
The party of “NO"has spoken. On helping working people,NO! On a gentler, more compassionate brand of conservatisim,NO! It seems all they know is no.no.no.no.no. Well guess what “Plantation Master Minded” conservatives, on election day the people will say NO to you. There is untold suffering happening in Virginia because of the econonmic situation, and the republicans are still stuck on postering and failed ideology. If they were not sitting so high up on their saddle of privilege, maybe, just maybe, they could show a little compassion for the working people of Virginia, and that absolutely includes part time workers, and find a way to accept this federal money. But either way the damage is already done in my support for Republicans. I am getting off their train to “Nowheresville”!
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