These days President Barack Obama is more annoyed with the GOP than ever. At the root of the problem are the Republican Party’s efforts to block all sorts of aid for the jobless. He accuses the GOP of using the filibuster in order to obstruct progress and recovery.
Using the filibuster in the Senate, a procedure which requires 60 votes out of the 100, Republicans have managed to obstruct a minimum of three initiatives that were designed to lengthen the period of unemployment insurance.
Their excuse for the move is a need to reduce government spending in light of the massive budget deficit. They also point out that more spending on top of the stimulus package was also unwise. The President criticized this move heavily and pointed out that in the last few weeks over 2 million Americans had lost their unemployment insurance.The reason why Obama is keen to extend unemployment insurance is linked to the stimulus package. The package was designed to bring the U.S. out of the recession and it has done that – but very slowly. Although job creation is one of his highest priorities, the slow progress has hurt Obama’s reputation as well as the Democrats. What all of this really boils down to is – re-election. With congressional elections looming in November and a Presidential election not far away from that, the Democrats and Obama face a very sobering loss if things don’t turn around. Currently the unemployment rate stands at 9.5 percent and it is this figure that Obama and his administration are desperately trying to reduce to stay alive.