Midwest Voices

Barb Shelly

None

False alarm. Sen. Jim Lembke and his three feckless followers had no intention of standing down and allowing the Missouri legislature to accept federal benefits to help the people who have had the hardest time in the job market.

Word was earlier today that the gang of four was ready to make a deal. Turns out it was just more grandstanding. Their “deal” was that Gov. Jay Nixon would have to find $3 worth of cuts for every $1 the benefits would cost.

Sure. Nixon should cut state services more deeply than he’s already had to, hurt more Missourians, probably lay off state employees and add to the unemployment rate — all of that so Lembke and company can back out of the jam they’ve gotten themselves into and declare victory. Don’t think so.

To recap: Republican Senators Lembke of St. Louis County, Will Kraus of Lee’s Summit, Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph and Brian Nieves of Washington have for weeks refused to allow the Senate to vote on a bill to accept $105 million in federal funds to extend jobless benefits to Missourians who have been unemployed between 79 and 99 weeks. The holdouts say they want to send a message to Washington about excessive spending.

They also continue to reveal their contempt for struggling Missourians. Here’s Schaaf at a news conference today, as reported by the Columbia Tribune:

“I’ve said it many times. It is just outrageous that we would ask one citizen to work and take that citizen’s tax money and give it to somebody else who could work but isn’t working for two years.”

I’ve said this before: All four of these senators need to visit a jobs club and talk to some of these people who have gone without work for many months. Maybe they would get some sense of what it’s like to respond to hundreds of applications and never get a single reply. Or to apply for a $10-an-hour factory job and be told there’s 500 people in line before you. Or to see job ads specify that only people currently employed need apply.

Maybe they could get a sense of how terrified these people are of losing their homes, or getting sick when their health insurance has run out, or of seeing their kids have to drop out of college.

Then again, probably not. Senators Lembke, Kraus, Schaaf and Nieves are much too worried about the U.S. debt to China to listen to the fears of the people they’re supposed to be working for.

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