The Blame Game: Democrats faulted on unemployment extension

Who's to blame for Congress' delay in extending unemployment benefits? The Democrats, of course. They control Congress. They decide all government spending.

From Investor's Business Daily:

President Obama, for example, leveled an attack Monday at Republican lawmakers, essentially saying they were denying extended unemployment benefits for millions of jobless Americans. "It's time to do what's right, not for the next election, but for the middle class," he said, implying that the GOP's only concern was politics.

We're not surprised. It's in the grand tradition of political bad-mouthing to claim the opposition is heartless and hateful. But the president forgets: It was the Democrats who insisted on a new system for budgeting, to make sure the deficit didn't grow. Republicans, in fact, support the $34 billion extension of jobless benefits; they just want Congress to find an equivalent amount in cuts, as required by the Democrats' own rules.

Remember last February? Trying to convince Americans they were the fiscally responsible party — despite pushing the U.S. deficit to $1.4 trillion, or 10% of GDP, and adding trillions to our nation's debt — Democrats passed a "Pay-Go" law requiring that any added spending would be offset with cuts.

They got a lot of political mileage out of that. But before the ink on the bill was dry, they began ignoring it, spending more on health care, aid to the states, jobless benefits, expansion of the child tax credit and government loan programs for small businesses, among other goodies, with no cuts.

In short, they had it both ways — posing as deficit-cutters while at the same time spending vast sums of money on various forms of "stimulus." As we all know, the Keynesian stimulus has been a tragic failure, denying millions of Americans the right to meaningful work by killing off the economic growth that is the source of an expanding work force and rising wages.

The Blame Game - Investors.com