2010 Unemployment Extensions - Could Slow Robert Byrd Replacement Jeopardize UI Extension Passage?

2010 Unemployment Extensions - On June 30, cloture for the Unemployment Benefits Extension bill failed by just one vote in the Senate. Another standalone emergency UI Extension bill passed in the House the next day, but the Senate had already gone on recess for the Fourth of July holiday.

With two Republicans crossing party lines to vote for the UI Extension bill, the Democrats believed they would have had the 60 votes needed for either bill had it not been for the passing earlier that week of the late Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia). Fortunately for the Democrats, and possibly the 1.7 million jobless expected to be out of benefits as of the end of this week, the governor of West Virginia who would be appointing Sen. Byrd's replacement is also a Democrat and so is expected to appoint a Democrat - someone expected to provide that 60^th vote necessary to pass the Unemployment Extension bill.

So now millions of jobless are waiting and praying for Monday to come, when the Senate will reconvene and, with an appointee in place for Byrd's seat, a UI Benefits bill can be brought to the floor of the Senate, hopefully, for the last time. Many lives are hinging on that vote. Many, already without benefits for over a month, simply cannot hold on much longer.

But this means that now part of our fate rests in the hands, not of the Senate, but of the Governor and the laws of West Virginia.

As of this writing, Governor Joe Manchin, a Democrat, has not appointed a replacement for Senator Byrd. In fact, according to the Christian Science Monitor, Gov. Manchin was taking his time even looking for someone to appoint, focusing instead on "... comforting Byrd's family and staff, and preparing the West Virginia memorial scheduled for Friday."

What's interesting is that Manchin hadn't already picked out a replacement for Sen. Byrd days, weeks, even months ago. Senator Byrd was, after all, 92 years old and in increasingly frail health. Seems preparing for this sad eventuality would have been an important priority for a governor.

What's frustrating is that Sen. Byrd's replacement has turned out to be absolutely time critical for millions of jobless Americans who desperately need unemployment benefits extensions to be passed - and pronto.

But as always, it's even more complicated than that. Seems West Virginia is having some difficulty figuring out exactly what the law says they can do to replace Senator Byrd. While most still assume a replacement can be named by Governor Murchin, West Virginia is looking into the law and precedent on this matter to make sure. It may be that they will have to wait for a special election to fill Byrd's seat.

The timing of Senator Byrd's passing is a major issue, having to do with the timing of the primaries and of required time to file for candidacy for a special election. In an article in the Speaker's Lobby, Fox News put it this way:

"West Virginia's election law makes the replacement process for Sen. Byrd's seat pretty murky.

The letter of the law says if it's two years and six months or more from replacement to term end (which would officially be Jan 3, 2013), then the governor appoints a replacement until the general election.

BUT -- two things are unclear.

1- Democratic West Virginia Governor Manchin appears to have the ability to proclaim when the vacancy occurs. Manchin appears to hold ALL the cards here.

2- We are well past the candidate filing deadline.

And here's what one senior Democratic campaign strategist tells Fox:

"As for guidance on the process, Manchin appoints. We believe no election till 2012. Lawyers tell us it's not perfect picture of clarity but that it's unlikely the SOS [Secretary of State] statute applies because the filing deadline for 2010 has already passed...something about timeliness of a candidacy. We are checking more, but it's likely that the Governor's office is going to drive this. They get to call for elections - not SOS [Secretary of State]."

According to their findings thus far, it would appear that the Governor cannot simply appoint a replacement. The article goes on further to say: "And as long as Republicans remain united, there can be no extension of unemployment insurance benefits or other safety net bills, if they are not offset by spending cuts."

Still, in her statement to the press soon after Byrd's death, West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant explained with regard to the W. Va. law that Section 3-10-3 that the governor is to appoint a replacement for Byrd until an election can take place.

So it appears the rules are somewhat unclear as to the proper way for West Virginia to fill the vacancy in the Senate. We will have to see if the Governor of West Virginia will be able to rapidly appoint a replacement for Senator Byrd and provide the 60^th vote needed to pass the Democrats' version of the Unemployment Extension Bill in the first few days of next week or if a replacement can only come with a special election, at best several months away. The appointment is still most likely, but again it is not yet totally clear.

What is not unclear, however, is that the Democrats can immediately pass an Unemployment Benefits Extension bill by simply agreeing to pay for it as the Republicans have requested. In fact, they could have all along. Perhaps now, if they truly care about the unemployed, they will do what is best for us AND the entire country, and take the Republicans up on one of the many Unemployment Extension bills, amendments or deals that they offered (Read here, here and here) instead of using and further prolonging the suffering of the unemployed to demagogue for votes.

Sources:

http://congress.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/28/west-virginia-law-makes-byrd-replacement-process-and-timing-murky-as-financial-regulation-bill-hangs-in-senate/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointmemo.com/2010/06/west-virginia-sec-of-state-no-election-for-byrds-seat-until-2012.php

http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0630/Robert-Byrd-replacement-not-immediate-concern-for-W.-Va.-Gov

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0628/Robert-Byrd-successor-will-be-appointed.-A-good-idea