House Speaker Boehner still blocking extended unemployment benefits, says jobless have ‘sick’ ideas

Washington DC – In a speech before the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute here, Sept. 18, the Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner denounced jobless workers and said that they needed to be brought into “the mainstream of American society.”

Speaking about unemployed workers, Boehner stated, “I think this idea that’s been born over the last – maybe out of the economy –over the last couple of years that, you know, I really don’t have to work. You know, I don’t really want to do this; I think I’d just rather sit around. This is a very sick idea for our country.”

He then went on to talk the how hard he and other members of his family had to work, stating, “if you wanted something, you worked for it.”

Speaker Boehner and other House Republicans have been blocking efforts to renew extended unemployment compensation (EUC).

When the Democratic leadership failed to make benefits for the long-term jobless part of the budget compromise at the end of last year, Republicans got veto power over extending emergency unemployment benefits.

About 3 million jobless workers have lost out on jobless benefits, causing utility shut-offs, hunger and home foreclosures.