Senator Durbin Says Jobless Benefit Extension Has to Be Part of Tax Cut Debate

A key Senate Republican signaled he would support extending jobless benefits in exchange for extending all the Bush-era tax cuts. Senate Minority Whip John Kyl told CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday that unemployment pay should be in the "recipe" for fighting the recession. Republicans have resisted the idea of extending jobless pay past its already record-setting 99-weeks. Some two-million Americans face losing those benefits this month. Kyl did stick to the party line when calling for a vote to extend tax-cuts for both the middle class and wealthy. The Arizona Republican said small businesses in particular would be "dramatically impacted by an increase in their taxes."

In response, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said that any debate on tax cuts without an extension of jobless benefits is "a non-starter." Democrats maintain that allowing the wealthy to keep their tax cuts would add 700-billion dollars to the deficit over the next decade. Durbin, a Democrat, sarcastically observed, quote, "clearly the deficit is not an issue here any longer, if we can justify giving a tax break to the wealthiest people in America."