Thursday, July 1, 2010
Senate fails to pass unemployment extension
Congress is behavinhg like 1st and 2nd grade children. They have drawn a line in the sand and dared the other party to cross it! Isn't it time that they grew up and started acting responsably? Shouldn't their primary concern be the well being and safety of America and not What can I do do screw the other party and oh by the way whatever the other guy says I am automatically against!
Senate fails to pass unemployment extension, won't try again until July 12
Published: Thursday, July 01, 2010, 6:50 AM Updated: Thursday, July 01, 2010, 7:42 AM
Jackie Headapohl
APThe Senate failed to pass an extension of federal unemployment benefits last night on a vote of 58-41.
The Senate's fourth attempt this month to pass an extension of federal unemployment benefits failed a cloture vote last night. The standalone bill would have extended benefits for six months.
The final vote was 58 to 41.
Share Two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, supported the measure, which gave Democrats 59 of the 60 votes they needed. However, without the vote of late Sen. Robert Byrd, Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson's no vote was enough to defeat the bill.
Ohio Republican George Voinovich might have voted yes, but his request that half the cost of the measure be offset with unused stimulus funds was refused by Senate Democrats, who insisted that the measure be passed as emergency spending and not subject to pay-go rules. Democrats believe the unused stimulus funds should be used for job creation efforts.
Due to Senate procedural rules, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was required to vote against the bill in order to allow for a future revote, reports the Huff Post, explaining why the tally was only 58-41 and not 59-40.
Republicans offered alternative bills, such as a proposal by Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown that would have paid for extended benefits with unused stimulus funds.
While Democrats are blaming Republicans for obstructing the bill, Republicans are blaming Democrats for the bill's failure.
"The only reason the unemployment extension hasn't passed is because our friends on the other side have refused to pass a bill that doesn't add to the debt," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after the vote.
Reid said that the Senate will revisit the issue on July 12 when it returns from recess. By then, a replacement for Byrd will have been named, and he should have the needed votes to pass an extension.
"We're not moving away from this issue," he said. "We'll be back to haunt [Republicans] for what they're doing to people who are in such desperate shape."
This is just the latest in a string of disappointing votes from the Senate this year for the unemployed. Journalist Annie Lowrey of the Washington Independent has a great piece today that chronicles the course of trying to get a long-term unemployment benefit extension through the Senate this year.
Lowrey reports that the Senate's next attempt to pass the extension in mid-July will likely be the last.
Senate staffers whisper that if this unemployment extension makes it through, it will be the last one. There will be no more torturous attempts to grant unemployment benefits to the 15 million unemployed. There will be no bills to add a Tier V for the million who have exhausted all benefits and still cannot find work. The benefits will end in November.
Meanwhile, before the Senate returns from its holiday break on July 12, another 400,000 Americans will join the 1.3 million people who have already lost their benefits, according to the Department of Labor.
That's bad news for the unemployed and the rest of us too. Some economists are lowering their projections for economic growth, saying that the expiration of federal unemployment benefits will weaken consumer demand and threaten the fragile economic recovery.
Jackie Headapohl
APThe Senate failed to pass an extension of federal unemployment benefits last night on a vote of 58-41.
The Senate's fourth attempt this month to pass an extension of federal unemployment benefits failed a cloture vote last night. The standalone bill would have extended benefits for six months.
The final vote was 58 to 41.
Share Two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, supported the measure, which gave Democrats 59 of the 60 votes they needed. However, without the vote of late Sen. Robert Byrd, Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson's no vote was enough to defeat the bill.
Ohio Republican George Voinovich might have voted yes, but his request that half the cost of the measure be offset with unused stimulus funds was refused by Senate Democrats, who insisted that the measure be passed as emergency spending and not subject to pay-go rules. Democrats believe the unused stimulus funds should be used for job creation efforts.
Due to Senate procedural rules, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was required to vote against the bill in order to allow for a future revote, reports the Huff Post, explaining why the tally was only 58-41 and not 59-40.
Republicans offered alternative bills, such as a proposal by Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown that would have paid for extended benefits with unused stimulus funds.
While Democrats are blaming Republicans for obstructing the bill, Republicans are blaming Democrats for the bill's failure.
"The only reason the unemployment extension hasn't passed is because our friends on the other side have refused to pass a bill that doesn't add to the debt," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after the vote.
Reid said that the Senate will revisit the issue on July 12 when it returns from recess. By then, a replacement for Byrd will have been named, and he should have the needed votes to pass an extension.
"We're not moving away from this issue," he said. "We'll be back to haunt [Republicans] for what they're doing to people who are in such desperate shape."
This is just the latest in a string of disappointing votes from the Senate this year for the unemployed. Journalist Annie Lowrey of the Washington Independent has a great piece today that chronicles the course of trying to get a long-term unemployment benefit extension through the Senate this year.
Lowrey reports that the Senate's next attempt to pass the extension in mid-July will likely be the last.
Senate staffers whisper that if this unemployment extension makes it through, it will be the last one. There will be no more torturous attempts to grant unemployment benefits to the 15 million unemployed. There will be no bills to add a Tier V for the million who have exhausted all benefits and still cannot find work. The benefits will end in November.
Meanwhile, before the Senate returns from its holiday break on July 12, another 400,000 Americans will join the 1.3 million people who have already lost their benefits, according to the Department of Labor.
That's bad news for the unemployed and the rest of us too. Some economists are lowering their projections for economic growth, saying that the expiration of federal unemployment benefits will weaken consumer demand and threaten the fragile economic recovery.
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