News
Terry urges White to say how he’d have voted
Terry leads White in fundraising
Published Saturday July 3, 2010: By Robynn Tysver, OMAHA WORLD-HERALD
Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Terry issued a broadside Friday against his Democratic opponent, Tom White, for failing to take a “yes” or “no” position on a bill to extend federal unemployment benefits.
Terry said voters have a right to know White’s stance on the bill, which Terry voted against, saying it would add $34 billion to the nation’s “spiraling budget deficit.”
White refused to take a position, saying he would have found a way to both provide the benefits and the money needed to cover the costs.
“The people of the Second District are entitled to a representative who gives them straight talk, not double talk,” said Terry.
White said if he had been in Congress he would have pushed to recoup bonuses paid to top executives at financial institutions that received federal bailout funds. That money, he said, then could have been used to extend unemployment benefits.
“I wasn’t there, and I didn’t have a chance to shape the bill,” said White, an Omaha attorney and state senator.
White is trying to unseat Terry in what is expected to be a hotly contested race. Terry is seeking his seventh term in Congress.
An effort to extend jobless benefits to people laid off for a long time passed the House on Thursday but stalled in the Senate. A majority of Republicans have opposed the bill, arguing now is not the time to add to the nation’s budget deficit.
The bill would extend through November federal emergency unemployment benefits for people whose state-paid unemployment benefits have run out.