Sentence examples for benefits hostage from inspiring English sources

It was not long ago that Republicans succeeded in holding unemployment benefits hostage to a renewal of the high-end Bush-era income tax cuts and — as a little bonus — won deep estate tax cuts for America's wealthiest heirs.

That makes it all the more imperative for Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to stop holding an extension of unemployment benefits hostage to a package of further reckless tax cuts.

Remember the 2010 "tax deal," when the GOP took unemployment benefits hostage to win an extension of the Bush tax cuts (thereby increasing deficits)?

When unemployment benefits are held hostage to tax cuts for the rich, public cynicism about who our democratic institutions serve grows.

But in a preview of the debt fight, he agreed to extend the cuts for two more years when Republicans held unemployment benefits and other measures hostage.

For months now, unemployment benefits have been held hostage equally by the Republican demand that any extension of benefits be accompanied by equivalent spending cuts and by the Democratic insistence that it should not be.

Desperately needed unemployment benefits have been held hostage to a tax break for the rich, and the Senate's Democratic leadership has had to delay and finagle to get its own caucus in line.

The dismal November jobs report, which showed that average wages grew by a Scrooge-like penny an hour and unemployment rose to 9.8 percent from 9.6 percent, made unemployment benefits a more valuable hostage.

"All of these benefits are being held hostage," Mr. Grassley complained, "because the other side is pushing a politically motivated vote on an issue that is not even in this bill".

Though Mr. Galston doesn't seem to see it this way, it sounds as if Sen. Orrin Hatch plans to hold benefits for disabled Americans hostage in order to force Social Security cuts on everyone.

A new series, "Standoff," about a romance between two F.B.I. hostage negotiators, benefited from the "House" lead-in and handily bested its competitors, although it garnered an unimpressive 66percentt retention of adults 18 to 49.