McCain to seniors, vets: tough luck

McCain’s fellow Republicans in the Senate have blocked a bill that would have added these measures to the president’s widely criticized economic stimulus package. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama left their campaign trails Feb. 7 and went to the Senate to try to end the Republican filibuster. But McCain stayed put, choosing not to back eight other Republican senators who joined Democrats in voting against the Republican stonewall.

The Senate’s 59-40 vote fell one short of the 60 needed to end the Republican filibuster. If McCain had joined his eight Republican colleagues, millions of unemployed and low-income workers, seniors and veterans would be better off.

The bill would have extended unemployment benefits and provided tax rebates for 20 million poor people including seniors and disabled veterans.

McCain aides said the Arizona senator opposed these measures, and also objected to several other provisions in the bill including increased home heating assistance for low-income families.

Labor unions considered the Senate package that McCain opposed an improvement over the original House bill. The AFL-CIO had also urged lawmakers to include a temporary increase in food stamp benefits, saying this would be an efficient way to pump money quickly into the economy.

Read More