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At the same time the White House is pushing to vastly expand the job-killing, wage-destroying NAFTA trade model, the Bush administration objected to a House Bill provision that would provide added unemployment insurance and training to service workers, such as x-ray technicians or call center workers, and expand a tax break to help unemployed workers pay for health insurance. If ever there was ironclad proof that this administration is waging a war on the middle class, this is it. Full story attached.
Bush Opposes Democrats' Proposal to Aid Workers Hurt by Trade By Mark Drajem Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush may veto legislation to expand benefits for workers harmed by international trade because it would cover more workers than necessary, a White House statement said. The House bill, to be voted on tomorrow, would convert assistance ``from a trade-related program to a universal income-support and training program,'' the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement today. Specifically, the Bush administration objected to a provision that would provide added unemployment insurance and training to service workers, such as x-ray technicians or call center workers, and expand a tax break to help unemployed workers pay for health insurance. The measure fails to distinguish between workers who lost jobs related to trade or domestic competition, the administration said. The administration also said the bill could expand benefits in the program to illegal immigrants. To pay for the $5.2 billion in expanded benefits, the measure offered by Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, would delay a tax break for U.S. companies that do business overseas and extend a surtax on unemployment insurance. The White House also opposed any delay in this tax break. Democrats say a vote on Rangel's bill is necessary before they will consider a free-trade agreement with Peru sought by the Bush administration. Rangel's committee is slated to consider the Peru agreement tomorrow. ``When it comes to trade, the time has come to deal fairly and squarely with American workers -- our middle class -- that's what our bill does,'' Washington Democrat Jim McDermott said in a statement. But ``the president wants to stiff the American worker and he will sacrifice his trade agenda if he does.'' Similar trade adjustment legislation has been proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. No vote has yet been scheduled in that chamber. The trade adjustment program, which began in 1962 and has been renewed several times since, expires at the end of the year unless renewed. ``If this bill were presented to the president in its current form, the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill,'' the statement said. |
