Thune Demands Unemployment Benefits Be Paid For, But Not The Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

At the end of November, unemployment benefits expired for 2 million Americans in the midst of the holiday season, thanks to repeated Republican obstructionism in the Senate. The White House tax compromise announced this week will extend these benefits for 13 months, but a number of Republicans are opposing the extension because it would increase the deficit, and are even threatening to scuttle the entire deal over aid for the jobless.

“I don’t think we need to extend unemployment any further without paying for it,” Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday. “Thank you, @JimDeMint” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tweeted yesterday in response. “Obviously Obama is so very, very wrong on the economy & spins GOP tax cut goals; so fiscal conservatives: we expect you to fight for us & America’s solvency,” Palin followed up in another tweet.

Of course, at the same time, these self-described “fiscal conservatives” have been demanding a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which would add $830 billion to the deficit over ten years. The White House compromise only extended them for two years, at a cost of $120 billion. The unemployment extension would cost far less — only $55 billion.

Nonetheless, on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show last night, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) joined DeMint and Palin, saying “we need” to pay for unemployment benefits, while completely ignoring the cost of the Bush tax cuts:

HANNITY: What do you think of what Jim DeMint and Governor Palin had said about this that, you know, we need to extend unemployment. We can’t do it without funding it. Number two, we don’t need temporary economy. We don’t need temporary tax rates, businesses need to look five, 10 years down the road. What do you think of that criticism?

THUNE: I don’t disagree with any of that. … But I do agree with what Senator DeMint is saying and that is we need to try and come up with a way to pay for this $55 billion extension of unemployment benefits. We will be offering amendments in the Senate to do just that.

Watch it:

Of course, Thune did not say he would offer an amendment to pay for the Bush tax bonus for the rich. As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo noted yesterday, “Unemployment benefits are providing a vital lifeline to millions of Americans struggling in a weak economy,” but Thune, DeMint, and their cohorts “would cut them off, while lavishing tax breaks on the wealthy.”