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What did American workers ever do to Republicans to deserve this?
First the Republicans oppose almost every major jobs program.
Then the Republicans use the obstructionist filibuster to destroy any hope of passing jobs programs.
Now the Republicans oppose and filibuster to death jobless benefits for American workers who have lost their jobs.
Disgrace.
Shame.
Outrage.
Extremism.
Even the racist senators of the segregationist South, who pioneered the filibuster, never abused the filibuster like this, and never used the filibuster to declare war against jobless American workers.
Make no mistake, I thought the president looked a little ridiculous yesterday with another campaign-style appearance out of Washington, when he should have been here fighting for jobs and jobless benefits.
And make no mistake, Democratic leaders did not look heroic, leaving town for their holiday and leaving more than a million jobless workers without benefits that expired June 2.
But the Republican performance is a work to behold. The Republican war against workers is an outrage against decency. The Republican economic philosophy is one of the great failures in American history, causing recession after recession, depression after depression, again and again, across decades of history. They never learn.
Today American workers are without jobs because Republicans opposed programs to create jobs and obstructed them with filibusters. Today jobless Americans are without benefits because Republicans opposed them and obstructed them with filibusters.
It is not enough for Republicans who cannot escape the ghost of Herbert Hoover to keep causing crashes with their failed economics. It is not enough for Republicans to oppose programs to create jobs and offer benefits to those without them. That is not enough for Republicans today; now they must destroy the essence of democracy, in a way never done in the history of our republic, by filibustering every bill to undo the damage they created or help those whose misery their policies caused.
Today more than 1 million jobless Americans are without benefits they lost a month ago. They will be huddled at home tonight, those who still have homes, fearing for where they will get their food to eat and how they will pay for the health of their children.
Here's what I think:
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