July 21, 2011
Cullen Decries ‘Cynical’ Delay in
Extending Jobless Benefits
Two days after praising his Senate colleagues for supporting a bill to extend jobless benefits and to repeal a one-week waiting period, Sen. Tim Cullen is deploring the tactics of Republican leadership that has stalled the legislation.
On Tuesday, the bill passed the Senate 30-3. It passed the Assembly on Wednesday 81-16, but with the one-week waiting period re-inserted. The Senate could have taken the bill up today, but the Senate Majority Leader chose instead to adjourn until Tuesday, saying he is trying to reach an agreement on the legislation. At a press conference outside of the Senate chamber, Cullen made the following statement:
“I think the important question is who are the people who are unemployed? Are they Republicans or Democrats? They’re both. Are they blue collar, white collar, no collar? These are people who have two things in common: They’re Wisconsin citizens and they lost their jobs.
“And I see the most cynical thing I’ve seen in a long time in this Capitol, and that is Republicans are going down the road saying to those who are unemployed: We will either help those who were just laid off or we will help those who have been laid off for a long time. That’s the road they’re trying to go down. And to me, for the Senate to pass a bill which says people can get their benefits the first week they’re unemployed, which has been the law since 1976 until last month, and then have the Assembly say no, is just like taking a glass of water to a person who has been stranded in the desert, and then pour it in the sand. That’s what we’ve done to the unemployed with this action.
“The two leaders, the two brothers, have been in sync on every issue that has mattered to them since I came here on January 3rd. But now on a matter that affects unemployed people, people who don’t have PACs and conduits, people who don’t have access to third party groups, people who don’t have the ability to write checks, for them, somehow they’re all confused, and they can’t get the two houses together. I think it’s an incredible joke. They could be here today. We were scheduled to be here at 11 o’clock. We’re here today. They can do cynical things that push us around as legislators or push around interest groups. We kind of expect that. But when they push around unemployed, relatively powerless people, it brings into question in my mind their moral judgment to lead this Legislature.”