Extension of Jobless Benefits

Posted on November 19, 2010 by townsend

• Jobless-benefits bill rejected, By Janet Hook and Martin Vaughn, November 19, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “House Republicans Thursday torpedoed a bill to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed, pressing their demand that the $12 billion cost of the program be offset rather than adding to the deficit. In a defeat for Democrats trying to keep the program from expiring Nov. 30, the House rejected a bill to continue the program for three more months. Lawmakers in both parties expect a compromise eventually to be reached-but not until December, after the current program expires. Without an extension, 800,000 unemployed workers will lose their benefits by Nov. 30 and two million by the end of December. The unemployment aid is just one of many issues before the lame duck Congress that are confounding President Barack Obama and congressional leaders. Others include the fate of the Bush-era tax cuts due to expire Dec. 31 and a funding mechanism to keep the government running after a stop-gap appropriations bill expires Dec. 3…”
• Filibuster blocks U.S. aid for jobless, By Ann Belser, November 19, 2010, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “On the same day the state reported that there were still 560,000 unemployed Pennsylvanians in October, congressional Republicans blocked a measure that would have reauthorized the national extension of unemployment benefits. The state’s Department of Labor and Industry announced Thursday afternoon that the unemployment rate last month dropped to 8.8 percent, the same level as January, as Pennsylvania gained nearly 16,000 nonfarm jobs. Reauthorization of unemployment benefits would have allowed states to pay unemployment compensation past the standard 26 weeks up to 99 weeks, as they have been doing since early in the recession…”
• House GOP blocks extension of jobless benefits, By Lisa Mascaro, November 18, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “House Republicans voted Thursday to deny an extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans and tried to cut off public funding for National Public Radio, moves that reinforced the GOP’s direction following its midterm election gains. The votes were not necessarily new tactics, as Republicans have generally opposed extending unemployment insurance unless it is paid for with federal spending cuts elsewhere, and have pledged to take weekly votes to cut federal spending. But the two House votes, within hours of each other as lawmakers prepared to recess for a Thanksgiving break, provided an example of the agenda to come when the GOP takes control of the chamber in January…”
• EPI: Extending federal unemployment benefits through 2011 could generate the equivalent of 700,000 jobs, By Jackie Headapohl, November 9, 2010, MLive.com: “Not only do unemployment benefits assist the unemployed, they also boost spending in the economy and generate jobs, according to a brief from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The brief states that extending unemployment insurance benefits through 2011 would generate more than 700,000 full-time-equivalent jobs while saving millions from poverty…”
• CBO: Unemployment benefits prevented record poverty rate in 2009, By Arthur Delaney, November 17, 2010, Huffington Post: “Extended unemployment insurance put in place to fight the recession prevented the poverty rate from rising to 15.4 percent in 2009, a level unseen since the 1960s, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The government announced in September that that the 2009 poverty rate had risen to 14.3 percent from 13.2 percent the previous year…”