Seriously, Speaker Boehner. Bring unemployment aid to a vote.
Americans see unemployment and jobs as
the most important problem facing the nation, a new Gallup poll finds. Unemployment and jobs, named as most important by 23 percent of those surveyed, are followed by the economy in general, at 20 percent. And while congressional Republicans and the establishment media consistently present the deficit as a top concern, when it comes to what Americans in general think, you have to go down to a distant fifth place, with 8 percent, to reach that issue.
This is something congressional Republicans might want to consider next time they start claiming they can't extend emergency unemployment aid because deficit. Even among Republicans surveyed by Gallup, just 11 percent listed the deficit as the most important problem. And whether that's because people understand that unemployment insurance helps boost the economy or because one of these things is immediate and pressing in their lives and the other isn't, it does suggest that blocking action on the thing the most people think is important in the name of something few people think is important is not actually a great political strategy.
Sign the petition to John Boehner: Pass a jobs bill and restore emergency unemployment insurance.