On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had to delay a crucial vote on unemployment benefits so that Republican lawmakers could finalize their list of demands. Although Democrats want to extend long-term unemployment benefits for 11 months with no strings attached, Conservative senators only want a three month extension, and they want the cost of the program off-set with more austerity measures. Among the proposals, which will likely be offered as amendments to the final plan, are some of the most inhumane ideas ever dreamed up by the Republican party.

 

According to a senior Democratic aide, in exchange for helping out-of-work Americans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would like to deny healthcare to millions with a one-year delay of Obamacare. Senator Kelly Ayotte would like to put the cost of an extension on the backs of immigrant children, by making it impossible for their parents to claim a child tax credit. And, Senator Rob Portman wants to cut Social Security benefits for the few Americans who receive disability benefits and unemployment assistance - a measure that would save a meager $100 million dollars a year.

 

Rather than asking the wealthy to pay more, or closing a few corporate tax loopholes, Republicans think that the cost of unemployment insurance should be paid by sick people, children, and the disabled. To make matters worse, some Democrats are going along with these ideas in an effort to restore the financial lifeline that 1.4 million out-of-work Americans rely on. It shouldn't have even come to this.

 

When Republicans were in power, they extended these important benefits multiple times with no strings attached. Now, however, they're using this emergency as an opportunity to inflict more pain on the American public - for the sole purpose of blaming that pain on our President. Austerity has never and will never benefit our economy, and this Republican political hostage-taking is causing real damage to millions of American lives.

 

-Thom

 

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

  

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 9pm... Beware the TPP fast track (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)

 

Get your copy of Thom's new book, The Crash of 2016, today and click here for tour dates & events!

 

Watch the video 'Last Hours' narrated by Thom Hartmann about the "time bomb" that is ticking underground, underwater and under ice... frozen methane that is now escaping and could trigger runaway climate change. www.lasthours.org

 

Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."

 

Need to Know: Beware the TPP fast track
- Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR)  

 

Big Picture Politics Panel:
- Hughey Newsome, Project 21    
- Nate Sweet, Progressive Commentator  
- Heather Cirmo, Blueskin Solutions  

 

 

Why Scotland is lowering the voting age to 16
- Katie Ghose, U.K.'s Electoral Reform Society    

 

PLUS, Is net neutrality dead?
- Tim Karr, Free Press.

 

AND, Seattle swears in a Socialist
- Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council.

 

       

Monday's Daily Stack 

Article: "State ignored plan for tougher chemical oversight by Ken Ward Jr.

Article: "Federal Authorities Launch Investigation Into West Virginia River Spill" by John Raby.

Article: "Chemical Spill Battering W. Virginia Residents" by Jacob Chamberlain.

Article: "Sunday Shows To West Virginia: Drop Dead!" by Jason Linkins.

Article: "Lax Regulation, Shady Owners Probed in W. Virginia Spill by Jon Queally. 

Article: "Freedom executive Kennedy had felonies" by David Gutman.

 

The Big Picture
- Andrew Campbell, The Big Picture producer

Article: "Fast Track to Poverty" by Leo W. Gerard.

Article: "Pocan Opposes New Fast Track Legislation" by Rep. Mark Pocan.

Article: "'Golden age' of antibiotics 'set to end'" by Fergus Walsh.

Article: "Factory Farms Are Accelerating an Antibiotics Nightmare" by Alexander Zaitchik.

Article: "New Antibiotic Guidelines, but the Devil's in the Details" by Sarah Borron.

Article: "Since When Is the EPA Beholden to Big Ag?" by Sarah Borron.

 

Article: "Facility in West Virginia spill flew under regulatory radar" by Mitch Weiss and Ray Henry.

Documentary: The Dust Bowl.

Article: "No, People In Colorado Are Not Using Food Stamps To Buy Pot" by Josh Israel.

Article: "Are Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs) A Way To Avoid Regulation?" by EPA.

Article: "WV: Freedom Industries Has Ties to Koch Brothers" by dharmafarmer.

Article: "First Amendment to the United States Constitution".

Article: "14th Amendment

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Hour Two: GOP keeps unemployed cold and hungry
- Rich Danker, American Principles in Action (APIA) 

Article: "The Fight Over Unemployment Benefits Underscores the Right's Extremism" by Michael Tomasky.

Article: "" by .

Article: "Republicans Will Kill 240,000 Jobs In 2014 By Not Extending Unemployment Benefits" by Rmuse.

Article: "An awful idea: Hammer the disabled to pay for unemployment benefits" by Michael Hiltzik.

Article: "CBO: Extending Unemployment Benefits Would Help Economy" by Caitlin MacNeal.

 

Article: "oligo-" by Webster's New World dictionary.

Article: "Three Children Died During The Polar Vortex After Their Heat Was Cut Off" by Annie-Rose Strasser.

The good: "Senators Launch Climate Task Force To Support Climate Initiatives In Congress" by Katie Valentine.

The bad: "Fox's Hume: Christie Seen As A Bully Because He's An "Old Fashioned Guy's Guy" In Today's "Feminized Atmosphere"" by Media Matters.

The very, very ugly: Bernard McGuirk: "Fox refuses to comment after guest calls for Satanists to be gunned down" by Scott Kaufman.

Article: "Republican Millionaire Has A Compelling Case For A $12 Minimum Wage, And He's Taking It Directly To California Voters" by Alan Pyke.

Article: "Price Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act".

 

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones 

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "TRNS News Notes - 1/14/14" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes - 1/13/14" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "White House Defends Iran Nuclear Deal" by Geoff Holtzman.

Article: "In the States: Affordable Care Act Enrollment "Soars," "Spikes," "Surges" and "Takes Off"" by Josh Earnest.

Article: "Supreme Court Likely to Rein In President's Recess Appointments Power" by Jess Bravin and Melanie Trottman.

Article: "Reid: No ObamaCare amendments on unemployment bill" by Pete Kasperowicz.

Article: "Is Congress Guilty of Torture?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "UN says US violating international law, calls for closure of Guantanamo" by Stephanie Nebehay.

Article: "Peter King: Reactionary, Rash and Wrong" by Matthew Harwood.

Article: "Number on Guantanamo Hunger Strike Doubles in Under a Month" by Reprieve.

Article: "House GOP defense bill blocks Guantanamo closing" by AP.

 

Article: "West Virginia Secretary of State - Online Data Services".

Article: "Cannabis and Banking in Washington State" by Karen Hedwig Backman.

Article: "House to start 2014 with bill curbing EPA" by Pete Kasperowicz.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 1, section 8."... To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; ..."

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

 

Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET 

Hour One: Is net neutrality dead?
- Seton Motley, Less Government 

 

 

Hour Three: Hour Three: Pot, gateway drug to...state run banking?
- WA State Senator Bob Hasegawa (D-11th District) 

 

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...

Free excerpt, read book for free at Truthout, buy the book!

Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET 

 

We'll have all the latest news and information you won't be hearing from the corporate owned news media...net neutrality, the TPP, and more...

 

In fact, I'll be talking with United Steelworker's President Leo Gerard about his thoughts on why the TPP is the fast track to poverty...

 

Plus, we'll talk movement politics with Progressive Democrats of America President Tim Carpenter...

 

All this and I'll be taking your calls too...right here on...The Thom Hartmann Program...

 

AND...Don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Thank you for being part of our ever growing community for News, Debate and Opinion on the Thom Hartmann Program.

 

Click here to subscribe to the Thom Hartmann Newsletter.
 

Sincerely,

Buy Thom's newest book now!
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"Crash of 2016" website

Watch Thom on: - MSNBC's The Cycle
- CNN's Crossfire
- Democracy Now!

Should the U.S. voting age be lowered?

Vote here!

Is Congress Guilty of Torture?

Everything U Know Is Wrong about Dying

TPP...fast track to poverty in America?

Will America get a federal carbon tax?

Is there an antibiotic nightmare coming to America?

It's Time to Kill Some Companies

Rumble - Are Young People Turning Back To Liberalism?

Conversations with Great Minds - Busboys & Poets/Andy Shallal - Running for Mayor?

Conversations with Great Minds - Busboys & Poets/Andy Shallal - Rethinking Poverty

Rumble - This Conservative Does Hot Yoga!

Full Show 1/13/14: Is Congress Guilty of Torture?

Thom discusses the West Virginia chemical spill with RT Correspondent Meghan Lopez and Environmental Activist Maria Gunnoe. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) joins Thom to talk about the fast-tracking of TPP and discusses the possibility of a carbon tax with Mark Reynolds, the Executive Director of Citizens Climate Lobby. In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom details why Republicans want to keep Guantanamo open.

Thom Hartmann on the News: January 13, 2014

Caller: I'm Concerned for Young Marines at GITMO

Caller: The Homeless are Dying in the Streets!

Caller: Strip Mining Destroyed WVA Water

Is Congress Guilty of Torture?

California Millionaire calls for $12 an Hour Minimum Wage

GOP Keeps Unemployed Cold and Hungry...

Supreme Court Looks at Obama Recess Appointments

Caller: The Coal Companies Depend on West Virginia

Are Above Ground Storage Tanks a way Around the Law?

West Virginia: Example of the Libertarian Paradise!

The Thom Hartmann Program - January 13, 2014 Hour 1