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Fight Continues to Aid Recession Victims
As the economic stimulus issue has turned into a political football game, organized labor is making sure that union members and the general public know that it is congressional Republicans and the president who are trying to ram through a tax giveaway package for corporations and the wealthy that ignores workers' needs and fails to address the immediate
recession.
CWA President Bahr praised Senate Leader Tom Daschle for holding the line for special unemployment, health care, and job training assistance for jobless Americans, as well as targeted tax relief to individuals and businesses to stimulate the economy right away.
The GOP's refusal to agree to extended health care coverage, or to broadening jobless benefits for millions of part-time and intermittent workers, scuttled a stimulus deal just before Christmas. Daschle has said he will again press for a working family-friendly stimulus bill shortly after Congress comes back from its recess on Jan. 23.
As White House spokespersons hit the Sunday talk-show circuit trying to blame Daschle for the impasse, Bahr issued a statement declaring: "Relief for working families has never been a priority of this administration or the Republicans in Congress. When the airline industry was bailed out to the tune of $15 billion, jobless workers were ignored, with vague promises that their concerns would be taken up later. But later never came."
Republicans, he noted, want to give $211 billion in tax cuts over five years mainly to corporations and wealthy individuals, including $16 billion in retroactive tax refunds to companies like IBM and GE, while offering just superficial relief to jobless Workers.
recession.
CWA President Bahr praised Senate Leader Tom Daschle for holding the line for special unemployment, health care, and job training assistance for jobless Americans, as well as targeted tax relief to individuals and businesses to stimulate the economy right away.
The GOP's refusal to agree to extended health care coverage, or to broadening jobless benefits for millions of part-time and intermittent workers, scuttled a stimulus deal just before Christmas. Daschle has said he will again press for a working family-friendly stimulus bill shortly after Congress comes back from its recess on Jan. 23.
As White House spokespersons hit the Sunday talk-show circuit trying to blame Daschle for the impasse, Bahr issued a statement declaring: "Relief for working families has never been a priority of this administration or the Republicans in Congress. When the airline industry was bailed out to the tune of $15 billion, jobless workers were ignored, with vague promises that their concerns would be taken up later. But later never came."
Republicans, he noted, want to give $211 billion in tax cuts over five years mainly to corporations and wealthy individuals, including $16 billion in retroactive tax refunds to companies like IBM and GE, while offering just superficial relief to jobless Workers.