March 10, 2010 in Nation/World

Jobless aid measure passes Senate

• Print
• Email
• Share

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Wednesday to extend a host of soon-to-expire elements of last year’s economic stimulus measure, including help for the jobless and money to help financially strapped states pay for health care for the poor.

The 62-36 vote came over protests from conservatives who say the bill adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt. Six Republicans joined all but one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, in voting for the bill.

The plight of the jobless and the political power of an annual package of tax breaks powered the measure through the Senate, even though it would add more than $130 billion to the budget deficit over the next year and a half.

The measure is the second piece of the Democrats’ much-touted “jobs agenda” to pass the Senate this year, with more elements promised, such as help for small businesses suffering from a credit crunch. Concern over out-of-control budget deficits are a big challenge to the success of the agenda.

The vote sends the measure into talks with the House, which is wary about some Senate provisions included to defray the measure’s impact on the deficit since they may want to use such “offsets” to help finance an overhaul of the health care system.

Democrats also hope to finish work this week on a far smaller job-creation measure blending additional highway spending with new tax breaks for companies that hire the unemployed.

The bill would provide unemployment benefits of up to 99 weeks in many states for people mired in joblessness as the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession in decades.

The measure illustrates the great extent to which direct help for the jobless and the poor makes up a large portion of Democrats’ election-year agenda on jobs — and threatens to squeeze out other items amid concerns about a budget deficit.

The sweeping bill cleans up a host of unfinished congressional business from last year that languished as the Senate focused on health care. It would also prevent doctors from absorbing a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments and extends through December a generous 65 percent subsidy of health insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program, at a cost of $10 billion.

Wednesday’s larger bill also provides the annual extension of $26 billion worth of tax breaks for businesses and individuals that are popular with senators in both parties.

The $66 billion cost of providing additional months of unemployment checks — the core benefit is 26 weeks — is added directly to a budget deficit expected to hit $1.6 trillion this year. Federal cash to help states with Medicaid adds about $25 billion more.

But Democrats said it would be heartless to cut off unemployment benefits to the long-term jobless and contended that the benefits inject demand into the economy, helping to lift it.

The tax breaks include a property tax deduction for people who don’t itemize, lucrative credits that help businesses finance research and development and a sales tax deduction that mainly helps people in the nine states without income taxes.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Four comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  CharlesBillford on March 10 at 11:57 a.m.

  This is a great bill it allows those people whom can be considered for jobless benefits, but it doesn’t consider the hard case unemployed whom cant get them. Those people should be the ones targeted.

  Nice.

• 

  empyrius on March 10 at 12:31 p.m.

  You got that right Charles!

  I was once one of those alcohol and drugger dudes that would thieve to keep the party going, so I racked up a number of felonies, all small-time non-violent stuff, and couple that with my hundred thousand dollar debt in collections . . .

  Well, simply put, I gave up looking for a job, let alone a career (outside of career criminal of course), a long time ago!

  And so now I just sit in mommy’s basement and she will be losing her house by this summer, if she does not die first, and then you have another homeless brother on the street.

  But don’t worry b/c I get zero monetary assistance from the government (I am not one of those “lucky ones” that get a nut check).

  “Self-inflicted loser” you say? Yeah, I cannot deny that. But I tried for quite awhile to become apart of the solution, sobered up, had purpose/goals, wanted to clean up that wreckage I wrought . . .

  Oh well, maybe next time . . .

  Peace

• 

  cowboy on March 10 at 2:10 p.m.

  Do a means test first simply look at their income tax statements before continuing benefits. I know someone who has been getting unemployment for 2 years solid has purposely goofed up interviews to stay unemployed while his wife pulls 100 grand a year at her job. This person is making 20,000 a year off unemployment.

  Help the people that need help not just the whole kit and gobodole.

  just like people getting SSI that make a 100 grand a year. they don’t need it save it and give to those that do. the average person uses up their vested interest in the first 3 years of claiming their SSI so what sense does it make to give it beyond those 3 years to people with a income over 50 grand?

• 

  spokanecommunistparty on March 10 at 7:34 p.m.

  All the jobs are in Mexico and China now, Could this depression be a permanent thing? I used to enjoy my job at Telect in Liberty Lake very much, aw happy memory’s. That was the last good job I ever had and it all ended on February 23,2001 due to outsourcing. All the good jobs left in a hurry leaving us with jobs that nobody could keep, like West corporation,Huntwood, Percell,Servatron, and fast food. 2001 was the last year that I had a paid vacation day, after that I had to call in sick to get a day off from what ever crappy mandatory overtime job I was working at the time. Which was always unpaid and sometimes met with abusive confrontations from sweatshop managers. I used to think I was a bad employee, but now I know that those were just bad jobs .Maby this DEPRESSION will end after we all get one of those magic green jobs or those crap jobs start hiring again. well, I’m off to work on one of those highways. Wait no I’m not, the highway company is never hiring like usual. Best of Luck fellow unemployed workers -Peace-