Unemployment Benefits Extenders Bill - Senate to Try Again Thursday

By now you're probably aware that the Unemployment Benefits "Extenders" bill died in the Senate today on a 45-52 vote, with 11 Democrats and an Independent crossing over to join the Republicans against the bill. For me, while I am already in my final tier of benefits known as the Fed-Ed extension and so am no longer concerned about the extension of filing dates for myself, the failure of the Extenders bill means my unemployment benefits will end - right now - mid tier. As you might suspect, this is terrifying. I am already bankrupt because of long term unemployment, but am unable to afford to file for bankruptcy. I have already lost my car. I am already behind on my house payment. Family and friends have already done all they can for my son and me.

But I'm not panicked yet, and you shouldn't be either. We must hold ourselves together and continue to fight on. Continue looking for jobs, of course, but as you and I both know, if there is no job out there for us right now, taking away unemployment benefits will not suddenly produce one. So we must also continue to fight on to make our voices and our plights known and understood in Congress. Write letters, make phone calls, sign petitions, don't give up. (For a comprehensive list of contact information, see "Tell Congress to Pass Tier 5 ...'")

And the fight is not over in Congress either as a new, modified unemployment benefits extender's bill is expected to go to the floor again tomorrow. As the the concern and the reason for the previous bill's failure was the enormous cost of it and the $80 billion addition to the deficit, the bill that is expected to be introduced tomorrow by the Democrats will be a scaled down version, cutting the allocation of many of the provisions of the bill - including the amount of unemployment benefits that will be paid. At the time of this writing, as far as the impact on the unemployment benefits aspects of the bill, I am only aware of a proposed scrapping of the $25 per week FAC benefit provided through the stimulus bill in 2009. Extending Cobra help is apparently also on the Democrats crosshairs to be removed as well as a number of other cuts to other parts of the bills effecting doctors, medicare/medicaid and aid to cash strapped states. We'll see tomorrow how it all shakes down.

What's most telling about this situation, though, is that the Republicans are not the ones trying to hold up unemployment benefits extensions or cobra payments or help for doctors to continue serving Medicare patients, it is the Democrats. In fact, the Republicans have proposed several bills which would pay for the unemployment benefits extensions so as not to add them to the deficit and even possibly reduce the deficit by billions. For instance:

"According to FoxNews.com, Senator John Thune (R-SD) has proposed a bill that would actually cut the deficit by $55 billion by first taking $38 billion from the 2009 stimulus funds that have yet to have been used or even allocated. The bill would also freeze federal salaries and impose a "5% across-the-board cut in government spending for all agencies except the VA and DOD, among other provisions." (Read 'Senate Still Seeking 60 Votes ... ")

Yet the Democrats, on the other hand, seem determined to refuse any proposals that might inconvenience them, preferring instead to cut payments to the unemployed, etc. Had they accepted either Sen. Thune's or Sen. Coburn's alternatives, the unemployment benefits extender's bill could have already been passed. But apparently they intend to continue on the course of trying to avoid any belt tightening of their own while appearing to try to pass the bill tomorrow.

The Democrats refusal to entertain using some of the unused stimulus money to pay for the bill or doing any cost cutting within their own domain may sink this desperately needed unemployment benefits extension. Don't let that happen!

Tell Congress to pass Senator Thune's Bill funding the unemployment benefits extension and paying for it as they go.

Sources:

http://www.webcpa.com/news/Tax-Extender-Unemployment-Bill-Stalls-Senate-54665-1.html

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/16/senate-nixes-unemployment-extension/

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gBPaHA8wyvhZsKWPW8Uxp30QpfqgD9GCGJ8G1

http://congress.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/14/crucial-vote-