Republican House Speaker hopeful, John Boehner, recently commenting on the vote to extend unemployment benefits for the nation’s millions of unemployed workers, claimed that no one in this country should be getting a free ride. “If the unemployed want to collect unemployment benefits, then by God they should have to work for them” was the sentiment from Boehner.
Boehner is one of a growing number of Republicans who are coming out vocally against what they perceive is a growing trend toward unjustified entitlement programs for the needy. “I get up every day and I go to work and earn a living,” said Boehner. “If these people want a government check, then I suggest they do the same. Earn it for chrissakes.”
When reminded that the unemployed are unemployed because they lost their jobs due to down-sizing, jobs being shipped overseas, and the economic downturn in general and because of this, they cannot find jobs, Boehner replied “Hogwash. If they spent just a fraction of their time working to earn those unemployment checks, we wouldn’t need to be having this conversation.”
Boehner claims the best way to get rid of the unemployment benefit extension problem is to make unemployed workers work. Surprisingly, no one had an argument with that sentiment.