2010 Unemployment Extension - House Fails to Pass Emergency UI Extension Funding Bill

2010 Unemployment Extension - The House of Representatives failed to pass a standalone emergency unemployment extension bill today. The bill required a two-thirds majority but failed to reach that mark, coming in instead at 261-155.

The failure of this bill, known as HR 5618, the "Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2010", should not be seen as too great a disappointment, however, in that the bill, as it was introduced by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), would have likely had difficulty passing in the Senate and was somewhat duplicative, if not less desirable, than the unemployment extension bill that Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) has already introduced in the Senate.

Congressman McDerMott's standalone unemployment benefits extension bill would have extended benefits through November 2010, rather than through December 2010, as the Stabenow bill does. And the House bill did not extend the $25 per week addition from the 2009 "Stimulus" bill, as Stabenow's Senate bill does.

Unfortunately, neither of these standalone unemployment extension bills are "offset" or paid for. During the debate today, House Republicans continued to support extending unemployment benefits but asked that a new bill be introduced post haste that extends unemployment benefits but that offsets the costs and avoids deficit spending, the argument that Republicans in both houses of Congress have steadfastly maintained. (Read: Why Did the Republicans Really Say No?")

As it was, the McDermott version of UI benefits extensions may have suffered the same fate in the Senate as did HR 4213, which went down to defeat three times there for the same reason. If the House does as requested by a number of Republican Congressman and returns tomorrow with a paid for emergency standalone unemployment extension bill, odds of it succeeding in the Senate would be much higher.

It is not known yet whether this will happen, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal) had previously showed signs of being willing to pay for an unemployment benefits extension rather than add the billions of dollars it will cost to the deficit. (Read: "Democrats Seeing Wisdom in Offsets")

Should a new UI benefits extension standalone bill with this change be introduced and passed in the House tomorrow, the first hurdle that the new House bill or the Stabenow bill already introduced in the Senate will have to overcome will not be the Republicans but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev). It is his decision as to what bills come to the floor of the Senate and when. Sen. Reid has already voiced his opposition to voting on an unemployment extension bill separated from the broader HR 4213 American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, preferring to use the Republicans' concern for the unemployed to pressure into passing the rest of the objectionable portions of this bill. So Sen. Reid may choose to entertain one of these bills or he may choose neither. And he may do so this week or weeks into the summer.

If, however, Senator Reid does bring one of these votes to the floor this week, the Senate will again have to try to get the 60 votes necessary for cloture and passage. A paid for unemployment benefits bill will likely garner all Republican votes. It is not known how all Democrats will vote on such a bill, however, as the Republicans have tried numerous times to pass various paid for unemployment benefits extensions, some temporary and one, the Thune Amendment, a complete bill covering all UI benefits through November while actually reducing the deficit, and every time either Reid or the Democrats have shot them down. (Read: "Democrats Block Unemployment Benefits Extensions")

So as of today, it appears the Stabenow unemployment benefits extension bill in the Senate is the door we must get through and Senate Majority Leader Reid is holding the keys. Perhaps the House will try again with a paid for UI benefits extension bill tomorrow which would have the greatest chance of passing. Since Senate Republicans would likely vote for it, Reid may have difficulty explaining to the American people and the unemployed in particular why he would refuse to allow that legislation to reach the floor.

One final word of caution: The Democrats may use a bit of a parlor trick and come back with an unemployment benefits bill that they offset with job killing tax increases, something the Republicans are also trying to avoid as they are trying to help the jobless AND the economy, not make it worse for both. Republicans have already identified many ways to cut billions of dollars in wasteful government spending to offset the cost of unemployment benefits extensions, as well as using unallocated "stimulus" funds. (Again, read "Why the Republicans Really Said No" for more details on the Republican proposals to pay for the bill.) It will be interesting to see if this happens. It would certainly put the Republicans between a new rock and a hard place as the Democrats will use it to continue to point fingers at the Republicans. Worst of all, such a move by the Democrats could further jeopardize our chance to get our benefits back. Ah, politics ...

Either way, time is of the essence and the Fourth of July Recess is drawing near. Please continue to contact your legislators and tell them not to go home until unemployment benefits extensions are passed, so perhaps the unemployed can have something to celebrate, too.

(I apologize to my readers in that I initially reported that the bill had passed. Initial sources reported such and in my own viewing of C-Span it appeared that was the case. I have since retracted that article.)

Source:

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1949-House-Rejects-Stand-Alone-Unemployment-Insurance-Bill