Sen. Entitlement feels the rest of us are not entitled

Today, in an hoped for interview with ABC news, Sen. Jim Bunning R (KY), rejected a question from a reporter when asked why he opposed extending unemployment benefits, including those in his home state.

Bunning, who is not running for reelection and apparently without the blessing of the GOP , who along with Mitch McConnell are holding up the vote by procedure unless their buddy, Sen.Northrop Grumman-Shelby and Alabama receives an entitlement of the Air Force tanker deal involving Northrop-Grumman, a subsidiary of French manufacturer, AirBus. Since then, this foriegn outsourcing has sent lawmakers scrambling for cover.  Boeing lost the bid last year and has since appealed and for now, the contract to construct the new generation of Air Force tankers is still being negotiated. They are also holding up the appointment of top intelligence members since December, by blocking their votes on the floor.

Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid asked for unanimous consent to move forward with the bill on Monday.

“Six times last week, Democrats asked to extend their unemployment benefits for a short time while they work on a longer extension,” Reid said. “Six times, Republicans said no. They didn’t just say no to us, that is members of the Senate. They said no to their families in their own states and all our states count on us to act when we need action. They count on us to respond in the event of an emergency. This is an emergency. The Republicans in the Senate are standing between these families and the help they need while these benefits expire and expired.”

After Reid spoke, Bunning raised his objection and blamed the Democrats for failing to extend benefits with an earlier bill that Reid scrapped. He repeated his insistence that the Senate not add an additional $10 billion to the deficit.

“Just a brief explanation of why we are where we’re at with this extension bill, the brief extension of 30 days,” said Bunning, who is not running for reelection and apparently not acting with the blessing of GOP leadership. “There was an agreement between the majority leader of the Finance Committee and the minority leader in the Finance Committee, Sens. Baucus and Grassley, on a three-month extension of these very same provisions. There were more provisions in the bill also. It cost a little more than the the $10 billion that is asked for because it was a three-month extension. Senator Reid pulled that bill from the floor of the U.S. Senate. He did it. The leader of the Democrats pulled that bill from the floor. I support extending unemployment benefits, COBRA benefits, flood insurance, highway bill fix, doc fix, small business loans, distant network television for satellite viewers. If we can’t find $10 billion to pay for something that we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of this U.S. Senate.”

“Excuse me, this is a Senate-only elevator,” he said. “Excuse me!” as the reporter asked him why he objected to the unemployment extension.

An ABC producer said the senator flipped him off as the elevator door was closing.

Earlier, Sen Jeff Merkley from Oregon asked Bunning to drop the objection to which Bunning replied, “tough shit”.

Today, 400,000 people lost their extension for unemployment benefits, rural satellite television was lost to 1 million people whose subsidy was available to areas that have no, over the air tv or cable service. (including Kentucky)   2,000 highway construction workers whose jobs were depending on the extension of stimulus dollars are not working.  Cobra insurance benefits are being held up as well.  Doctors who depend on Medicare reimbursement,  just saw a 21% drop in payments as well with these extensions held up.

You stay classy GOP.