Legislature: 79 Weeks is Enough

I have to believe that Ed Montini and the liberal crowd are deliberately missing the point on what happened at the Capitol.  Today’s lefty mantra is that Arizona lawmakers did nothing (but got paid).

So what exactly did they not do?  Here’s a recap:  Brewer called a special session to extend the unemployment benefits from 79 weeks to 99 weeks.  But the Republican-controlled legislature balked at the extension and the whole charade imploded by the end of the first day.

Clearly, someone in the Governor’s Office miscalculated the legislature’s interest in playing ball and this breakdown has only exacerbated the tension between Brewer and Pearce.

Brewer backed the extension because the federal government plans to bankroll the additional 20 weeks.  But the GOP leadership in the legislature indicated it wouldn’t back the extension unless Brewer was willing to offer some pro-business measures that could actually generate some economic activity.

But back to Montini and the Democrats that are barking about the legislature not doing anything.  I suppose you could say the Republicans are ‘doing nothing’ if your political orientation is that government should always be doing something.

The problem is that the government is always ‘doing something’ and unemployment remains stuck above 9 percent.  There is no more money to spend and doing so only frightens consumers and the private sector at this point.  The federal government already borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends and extending benefits an extra 20 weeks in Arizona would cost the federal government (er, taxpayers) an additional $80 million this year.

It’s not exactly compelling that we should borrow more from China so that we can keep people on the dole for nearly two years.  Besides, what makes 99 weeks the magic number?  Anyone really believe that’s going to be the hard line in the sand?  Or, better yet, does anyone believe that we’ll ever return to a mere 26 weeks of unemployment benefits?  Government advances but never recedes.

UPDATE: Some of the Democratic lawmakers are taking a symbolic stand by pledging to return their per diem for attending the special session.  Senate Minority Leader David Schapira has even introduced a bill to waive the $60 per diem for the session.  Just a thought, maybe they actually earned their paycheck by making some tough decisions?