Obama signs bill for defense, jobless benefits

[The Northerner]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill that combines another round of war spending with help for the unemployed.

The $626 billion defense bill contains $128 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and a 3.4 percent pay raise for the military. Obama signed the bill Saturday; the White House announced it Monday.

Lawmakers wrapped unrelated economic help into the legislation. The nation is emerging from recession but still dogged by double-digit unemployment.

The new law includes two-month extensions of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless. It also has health care subsidies for people out of work, along with money for highways and transit systems.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091222/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obam... ;_ylt=AkcR3cJcucl8_dOhXjs07LXv5rEF;_ylu=X3oDMTJtczYxcGo4BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMjIyL3VzX29iYW1hX2RlZmVuc2UEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDb2JhbWFzaWduc2Jp

[ixion]

1. $626 billion

well, the MIC gets theirs, too.

[Tx4obama]

2. The bill also included Franken's anti-rape amendment :) n/t

[FarLeftFist]

3. Our soldiers definitely do deserve a pay raise. Money well spent.

[tonysam]

4. Compared with the last time they extended UI, this was

lightning quick.

Perhaps Congress got a lot of complaints from constituents about the holdup from last time?

[old mark]

6. They are going home for christmas and they want to have something positive to

show the home voters to justify their time in session.
Election coming in '10.

mark

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Jeez! Bust a margin, why dontcha!

Not your fault, I know, but WTF is with that web address!?! It's like news services purposely give mile-long URLs, then randomly change them after a short time, making them more difficult to locate at a later time. Do they want news stories to have a short shelf life - the better to disappear down the memory hole?

OK, rant over.

If these unemployment benefits weren't part of the main defense bill, you can bet the repugs would have fought it tooth & nail.