Obama: Republican Obstructionism Hurts U.S.

President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Saturday of blocking legislation that would boost the nation's economic recovery and lift a $75 million cap on what oil companies must pay to families and small businesses affected by an oil spill.

Mr. Obama said the stalled Senate bill would extend unemployment benefits to workers without jobs and a tax credit for first-time homebuyers. He also said the legislation would save thousands of jobs across the country.

"Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the Senate won't even allow this legislation to come up for a vote," the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "And if this obstruction continues, unemployed Americans will see their benefits stop. Teachers and firefighters will lose their jobs. Families will pay more for their first home."

Republicans, President Obama said, are hurting the country and the economy by refusing to let the legislation move forward. He said the bill meant to hasten the economy recovery and lift the $75 million oil spill limit deserved a vote.

BP had paid out $95 million as of Friday and written about 30,000 checks to settle about half of the 63,000 claims it has received, a company spokesman said.

The chief of the Independent Claims Facility - the newly-created office charged with distributing $20 billion in compensation from BP - said a plan to handle the remaining damage claims should be in place within about six weeks.

Republicans used their weekly address to claim the president has been too slow to react to the threats posed by the Gulf oil spill and some steps taken by his administration will do more harm than good.

"I'm glad President Obama is finally putting this catastrophe at the top of his agenda, but his response has been too slow," Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said.

Wicker criticized President Obama for pushing for an energy bill and increases in oil cleanup fees and for calling for a moratorium on deep-water drilling, which he said would cost jobs and raise the price of energy.

[foolmeonce2010]

Partisan politics makes me laugh - both repubs and dems throw daggers at each other, thinking they are both patriotic, instead, they divide the country because their egos are much bigger than what's in their pants.
Shut the f up, all of you. you all are bringing this country down with your useless banter. rep, dem, it's all power hungry rich folks kicking you in the ass while you say 'thank u, may i have another'.

[robintoledo]

I don't understand why the Senate is not passing the unemployment extension. I live in Toledo where the unemployment rate is near 13%. Just north of here in Detroit it's a whopping 25%. My benefits are in limbo and now I'm going on welfare. Millions of other families will do the same adding to the burden of the states. Some senators says go and get any job. I would like them to log on to the McDonald's website, fill out and application and see how far it will get them! The senate should pass it as a stand alone bill and use the stimulus funds. It's that simple. The millions of jobs lost and not coming back for a long time. Congress can send billions overseas and yet they kick the American people in the butt.

[daliani]

miami whatever ... please have a little shame and refrain yourself from posting ignorant comments. The surplus left by the time Clinton left the White House was because there was a Republican-controlled Congress. I guess you had no idea it is Congress that control spending.

Now, I will have to show you basic math. The US had never experienced a trillion-dollar deficit before.

Conclusions: (1) You are clueless as to how the Federal government operates, (2) you can not even make a basic numerical analysis, and (3) people like you are a burden to this country.

[retm-w]

There never was a surplus. How could there have been a surplus when Social Security was holding millions in IOU's from the treasury, that was borrowed by every administration since LBJ. Had that been paid back with the surplus, Social Security wouldn't be broke.

[noloyalisti]

Bushoccio and his crime family lied us into war in Iraq. He and his crony Cheney outed an undercover CIA agent who was working to find WMDs overseas.

Bushoccio knowingly spied without warrants in violation of FISA. He tortured and rendered people against Geneva Convention that we have signed.

Bushoccio appointed activist judges to go after elected representatives and legislate from the bench. He appointed cronies from big corporations to head EPA, FEMA and other federal agencies where there was a huge conflict of interest. These industry people softened and gutted regulations that benefitted their corporate masters.

I can't believe that I have to keep listing these things but I do.

[noloyalisti]

Republican Fascism Hurts the US.

As it did for 8 years of the Bushoccio Crime Family and two years of the Obama Administration.

[Mortar_29]

Democrat Marxism hurts U.S.

[noloyalisti]

We have to unite against the REAL ENEMY of America: the corrupt filthy rich and their warlike corporations. Stop the purchase of the government by the rich.

[steeepe]

Just curious: has anyone ever changed his or her mind as a result of reading these posts? Facts don't seem to matter, only ideology. What's the point? Minds are like hammer heads, just pounding out the same message over and over. Just goes to show -- you can't teach old dogs new tricks (or anything else.......)

[Joutue]

By Joutue June 21,2010 4:07 pm

With reports of BP having assets of 36 Trillions of dollars. Why did obama just opt for only 20 Billion for the people on the gulf coast?
What was said in secret in their meeting in the oval office.
Campaign funds maybe. Looking out for himself mainly.

[buddharealm]

i do not think any company on earth has 36 trillion dollars of assets. not even the largest bank on the planet, much less an oil company.
socialists are ignorant about money.
it could be dollars.
it could be hundreds of dollars.
it could be thousands of dollars.
it could be millions of dollars.
it could be billions of dollars.
it could be trillions of dollars.
it's all the same - it's just someone else's money & the actual amount is irrelevant.
voting the socialists/communists out of office begins on nov. 2, 2010.

[Ktula7]

United we stand, divided we fall...brace for impact!!!

[miami_don]

by chevyhotrod June 21, 2010 12:04 PM EDT

I guess so since, in large part, they caused the economic crisis and there affinity for removing regulations on business are largely to blame for the ecological disaster in the Gulf?.Answers to all the question above.....THE DEMOCRAT

-----

I know you believe what you have said but sadly it is not the real answer. It would be a good idea to go back to Ronal Regan and his stated economic objectives to get a clear picture of what has transpired so excuse the encapsulation of this response to your statement:

Regan began the deregulation process and preached to the world the need for deregulation (the brainchild of Alan Greenspan). The idea was take the government out of the picture because we were going into a period of globalization and we needed to evolve if we were going to continue to be the leaders of the free world.

The idea was that business profits would trickle back down into the economy and make the nation even stronger economically.

The USA was the world leader in manufacturing at that time and had been since before WWII. No one was even close just twenty years ago to our exports power.

The result of Libertarian inspired Greenspan economics have been disastrous and just the opposite of strengthening our economy deregulation has brought us to the edge of becoming a second rate power. We are now fourth in the world in manufactured goods and soon to be fifth. The minimum wage has flat lined for the last decade and we have become the largest debtor nation on the face of the earth (that is thousands upon thousands of good paying jobs lost)

We buy more than we sell and our national and state governments do not take in enough revenue to pay their bills. Emotionally many Americans have fallen into the feel good trap and far too many people refuse to recognize we have nearly killed the golden goose. Some continue think if they can get it back to the good ole days everything will be peachy. The philosophy that expounds big business is their friend; the mortgage bubble was not the banks fault; and that it's o.k. to destabilize the economy as long as company's investors receive record dividends is a philosophal road to disaster.

It is time to face the facts that we tried it your way for the last ten years and now we have to put this nation back together. At that point in time when it has recovered then we can argue about the evil of the Democrats and the virtues of Republicans.

But if you can't help, are do not want to, then please just get out of the way until we get the nation back on its feet. We need AMERICAN jobs - which means the Just Say No and deregulation-is-right snake oil need to put aside to handle issues as a Repbulic not as spokesmen for the global corporations who took those jobs away.