the annual cost of living adjustments will be cut for veterans under age 62. the cuts will save the government some $6 billion over a decade. alex nicholson is the legislative director at iraq and afghanistan veterans of america and editor at defense policy.org. and alex, with a welcome to you, i m curious what you ve been hearing from your members this week. how has the legislation impacted them? you know, it s causing a lot of anxiety among veterans and service members and families. this may seem like a small cut, 1% off of the annual cola increase, until you turn ask a. but over the course of years this adds up to tens of thousands of dollars on average. if you re an officer who retires, it s over $100,000 that the government is taking back, that they already promised you. this is a big deal to veterans and military families. absolutely. just this week, a couple of members of congress introduced some bills that would repeal the cuts. you have senator kelley ayotte.
it s trying to strike that balance. good to see you. thanks so much. the iconic times square new year s eve ball will glitter with a whole new look this year. the ball was unveiled this afternoon. it has 2688 new crystals, each decide designed with the theme gift of imagination. one of the crystals was designed by a 12-year-old girl, a patient at st. jude s children s hospital. well done. we ll be right back. t s who. republicans in congress made sure of that protecting billions in taxpayer giveaways. and for those facing tough times? republicans stripped 1.3 million americans of jobless benefits folks who want to work, but cannot find a job kicking them to the curb during christmas.
of november. it s a bit of a double-edged sort, is it not, when you bring this to the senate and to your colleagues there in congress to say, we re doing better, but we still need this unemployment insurance? well, absolutely. look, first of all, as the economy continues to grow, there will come a point in time that those of us like myself who are advocates for unemployment insurance extension will say it s not needed anymore. that s when the job market continues to grow to a point that people looking for jobs will be able to achieve it. secondly, the reality is that the department of labor has put out information, as has other groups, that for every dollar of unemployment insurance that ultimately we give, we get a 2 for 1 ratio in terms of the ripple effect in the economy. so this is about helping working families be able to sustain themselves while they re looking for work. and, by the way, unemployment insurance requires that you exhibit and prove that you re actually in looking
market and have made efforts to do so. so i think that those are all important elements to understand bh we re debating this public policy issue. as you well know, sir, the inability to get this extension done feeds into the numbers we re seeing, a new cnn poll has 73% of respondents saying this congress has done nothing to address the country s problems. what are the reasons for optimism in the new year? we re going to put it to a vote. that s the best senate democrats can do. we re going to put it to a vote. i think overwhelmingly senate democrats will support it. we ll see if republicans want to join us of. the 1.3 million americans who will suffer it s my hope that when the question is called republicans will respond, join us, and hopefully if we can get a good vote out of the senate we can get the house which balked at putting it as part of the
n nuisance. cornyn will have to watch his right flank. after all, cornyn has taken some votes that are not popular with the right. he s a remember of the republican leadership where tea party folks are trying to take down the leadership. cornyn has been kind of guarding against that right flank ever since the beginning of this congress. he should have little problem dispensing with stockman, but he s someone he ll have to at least pay attention to over the next several months here. so basically, given that setup, that is why ted cruz doesn t go in and endorse him wholeheartedly, because he s been really guarding against the right flank? yeah. cruz has been careful about balancing the support from the right wing and not trying to do anything to show he s breaking from the tea party right, even if it means not endorsing the senior senator from his state, which you know is very unusual. let s look at where the