2010 Unemployment Extension - Byrd Replacement to Be Appointed Today

2010 Unemployment Extensions - Millions of jobless Americans have been waiting for months now for the passage of an unemployment benefits extension bill to make its way through Congress. Initially passed in the House and sent up to the Senate, the original legislation, H.R. 4213, the "American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010", had so many different provisions added to it, UI extensions were delayed in part because of disagreements over unrelated issues.

Still, even when whittled down to a nearly standalone version of unemployment benefits extensions, the Senate has been unable to garner the 60 votes necessary for cloture thus far. With almost all Republicans and one Democrat still holding out for a fiscally responsible version of the bill, offsetting the $34 billion price tag of the UI extensions, and only two Republicans crossing over to vote for the bill, it failed again in the last cloture attempt on Wednesday, June 30.

It is believed, however, and justifiably so, that had the Senate not lost its most senior member, the late Senator Robert Byrd (D-W. Virg.) just days before the final vote, this last version of unemployment benefits extensions would have passed.

Other fully offset UI benefits extension bills will full support of all of the Republicans have been presented, but unfortunately Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) and the Democrats have rejected them.

So now the fate of the unemployed has been left hinging on a replacement for Senator Byrd. Seems a simple enough task though - the Governor of West Virginia simply needed to appoint a replacement.

Alas, like everything else having to do with getting desperately needed unemployment benefits restored to America's jobless, even getting a replacement for Senator Byrd has turned out to be a fiasco.

While apparently even Harry Reid believed Byrd's successor would be in place on Monday, July 12 when the Senate reconvened from their 12 day recess, it was not to be. Seems there were a number of considerations, some legal, some strictly political, that needed to be worked out before Joe Manchin (D), the Governor of West Virginia, could name Byrd's replacement.

Senator Byrd passed on, it appears, at a rather inopportune time for appointing successors to his seat. Not due for re-election this fall, an appointee to Byrd would wind up holding that office for two and a half years without being duly elected by the people of West Virginia. But the primaries had already passed, so getting candidates up and running for a fair special election or November vote would be difficult. Rules would have to be clarified, attorneys consulted and, ultimately, the state legislature of West Virginia would have to give Governor Manchin permission to move ahead with a special election and appointment to this very important seat.

To add intrigue to the confusion, Governor Joe Manchin has long been eyeing Byrd's senate seat. He could have, as it turned out, appointed himself, but history has shown that voters don't tend to like that sort of self-serving action in their leaders, so it would have likely been a bad political move as he could have been ousted just a few months down the road, come the November elections. Then there's the problem of who to appoint. If Manchin doesn't appoint someone decent, the voters will be angry with him, hurting him politically. If he appoints someone too good, they might prefer to re-elect the appointee over Manchin when he runs in November. Manchin is quite popular, however, and should do well in the election, as long as he handles this situation properly.

So, all of this had to be worked out, of course, no matter how long it took to do it right. That is, the unemployed be damned. In Manchin and West Virginia's defense, however, no matter how we feel about how it's effecting us, had he appointed someone too quickly and without making sure he was on the legal and procedural high ground, lawsuits or challenges to the appointment could well have derailed the Senate's swearing in the replacement - and unemployment extensions could have ended up in limbo all over again.

At last, though, Manchin has dotted his "i's" and crossed his "t's" and the legislature of West Virginia has spoken. He has said he would appoint someone to Byrd's seat by 5:00 this evening. And Harry Reid has finally taken some proactive steps so a final cloture vote on the unemployment extension bill should be able to take place next Tuesday, followed by a vote on the actual bill, and then progress quickly to the President's desk.

With a little luck and a lot of prayer, all of this should be over and unemployment extensions passed next week. I just pray it's in time to save so many hurting people from absolute ruin.

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/16/pol.byrd.vacant.seat/?hpt=T2

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/07/replacement-for-sen-robert-byrd-to-be-named-this-week-/1

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/108249-byrds-replacement-named-by-sunday-

http://thehill.com/opinion/editorials/108311-player-of-the-week-wva-gov-joe-manchin-d

http://www.usmoneytalk.com/finance/unemployment-extension-byrd-sucessor-to-be-sworn-in-tuesday-907/

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1982-What-s-Been-Happening-With-the-Unemployment-Extension-Bill-