IN KEY VOTE THIS AFTERNOON, JOHN MCCAIN IGNORES JOBLESS ARIZONANS BY VOTING TO OBSTRUCT NEEDED ASSISTANCE

McCain Continues His Run To The Right

Senator John McCain continued to let down jobless Arizonans this afternoon, voting against ending debate on an unemployment compensation bill and allowing the legislation to go to the floor for a final vote. Despite McCain’s attempt at obstruction, cloture was invoked on a bipartisan basis, and the bill will now be brought to a final vote in the next few days.

“Today the U.S. Senate took an important procedural vote on extending unemployment benefits and tax breaks, but all Arizonans got from Senator McCain was another attempt at obstruction,” said DSCC National Press Secretary Deirdre Murphy. “Senator McCain continues running hard to the right, and today’s vote shows that Senator McCain would rather obstruct commonsense measures to help hard-hit Arizonans instead of helping them during their time of need.”

Today’s bill includes close to 60 tax breaks for individuals and companies that expired at the end of 2009. The bill also includes a deduction for college tuition for couples making less than $160,000 a year, one for teachers who use their own money to buy school supplies, a tax credit for community development agencies that invest in low-income neighborhoods, as well as a tax break for restaurant owners and retailers who remodel their stores. The measure also prevents doctors from absorbing a crippling cut in Medicare payments, extends health insurance subsidies for the unemployed and gives cash-starved states help with Medicaid, the federal-state program providing health care to the poor and disabled.