:ROGER ALFORD — U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning faced pressure Friday from his home state to vote for an extension of unemployment benefits for workers who have lost jobs in the recession.
The jobless benefits are part of a larger package of government initiatives set to expire Sunday because senators couldn't agree on how to pay to keep them going.
The House had passed a bill Thursday to extend the programs for one month. But the Senate was unable to do the same because of the objections of Bunning, a lame duck Republican who said the $10 billion bill would add to the budget deficit.
The legislation would also appropriate money for a number of other government initiatives, including highway construction and small business loans.
Gov. Steve Beshear, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, Attorney General Jack Conway and Democratic Party Chairman Charlie Moore were among those criticizing Bunning on Friday. Beshear sent a letter to Bunning urging him to chance his position.
"These unemployed Kentuckians come from hardworking families that have struggled for months to find new employment in the greatest economic recession in our lifetime," Beshear said in the letter. "They are mothers and fathers who are trying to put food on the table for their children and seniors who are trying to pay the rent."
Beshear said 119,230 unemployed Kentuckians are currently receiving benefits through the federal extension program.
Bunning said during the Senate debate he, like every other senator, wants to extend the unemployment benefits and the other programs included in the legislation. He said he would drop his objection if the Senate would include an amendment to pay for the programs.
"If we can't find $10 billion somewhere for a bill that everybody in this body supports, we will never pay for anything," Bunning said Friday morning on the Senate floor.
Mongiardo said Bunning showed a "cold-hearted disregard" for jobless Kentuckians. Moore called it "an outrage and an embarrassment" that Bunning blocked the extension.
Conway accused Bunning of "grandstanding and political posturing" during one of the worst economic crises in generations.
Mongiardo and Conway are among the Democratic candidates seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Bunning.
Senators still can avoid an interruption in unemployment benefits if they pass the measure next week.
Without the extension, Beshear said 14,206 Kentuckians would exhaust all extension benefits within two weeks. That number would grow incrementally through midsummer when all those receiving federal extensions would exhaust their benefits.
Bunning spokesman Mike Reynard reiterated Friday evening that the Kentucky senator supports the bill.
"He believes it is essential," Reynard said. "He believes we should pass it. But he believes we should pay for it."
In Kentucky on Friday, police checked out bomb threats involving two of Bunning's offices, one in Louisville and one at the Hazard center that houses the offices of Bunning and U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers. David Beyer, spokesman for the FBI in Louisville, said nothing was found in either case but that the matter was under investigation.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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