IN KEY VOTE THIS AFTERNOON, CHUCK GRASSLEY IGNORES JOBLESS IOWANS BY VOTING TO OBSTRUCT NEEDED ASSISTANCE

Grassley Continues To Show He Is Out Of Touch With Iowa

Senator Chuck Grassley continued to let down jobless Iowans 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 Grassley’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 Iowans got from Senator Grassley was another attempt at obstruction,” said DSCC National Press Secretary Deirdre Murphy. “Senator Grassley continues to show he is out of touch with Iowa, and today’s vote shows that Senator Grassley would rather obstruct commonsense measures to help hard-hit Iowans 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.