Posted on 11/23/2002 1:40:43 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Nearly a million jobless workers will lose their unemployment benefits just days after Christmas this year, a date Congress was unable to extend because of disputes between the House of Representatives and Senate.
Congress adjourned its 107th session Friday, sending President Bush a homeland security bill but faltering in a last-ditch effort to help recession victims whose unemployment insurance is about to run out.
"The Congress is here insisting on playing Scrooge at Christmastime, when we should be showing a little mercy," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.
Earlier this year, Congress approved a 13-week extension of jobless benefits for workers who had been affected by the economic downturn. The extensions begin to expire Dec. 28, immediately affecting 830,000 unemployed people. That number will increase by 95,000 a week afterward.
The House and Senate attempted to extend the expiration date, but were unable to reconcile their differences. The House bill would have extended benefits through Feb. 2 only to jobless workers in states facing the highest unemployment. The Senate version would have extended the benefits for three months to all jobless workers facing the Dec. 28 date.
The Senate rejected the House's approach earlier this month because it was less generous and contained Medicare provisions that many senators oppose.
The House refused to take up the Senate version because it cost more. Senate Republicans and Democrats yielded this week and agreed to reduce the extension to one month, but House Republicans rejected that offer Friday.
Outgoing House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said Congress would consider an extension when it reconvened in January.
Many economists believe that extending unemployment benefits during economic downturns can help prime the economy by putting money in the hands of the workers most likely to spend it. After the recession of the early 1990s, for instance, Congress approved a 30-month extension of temporary benefits.
The dispute over extending benefits came as new claims for jobless benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since July. The Department of Labor announced Thursday that new applications for unemployment insurance totaled 376,000, a drop of 25,000 for the week.
On Thursday, House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota asked Bush to weigh in and press House Republicans to approve the Senate proposal. The White House insisted that Congress work it out.
On Friday, with most House members already home or traveling abroad, only a handful of lawmakers met to make minor technical changes in the homeland security bill before sending it to the White House.
Obey and Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., tried to get Armey to accede to the Senate jobless-benefit proposal by briefly threatening to block the homeland security bill.
Armey refused, saying he needed the approval of Republican lawmakers before making such an agreement.
What ever happened to our entreprenurial spirit in America?
FDR, The New Deal. LBJ, The Great Society. That's what. It is very hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
No, you're not. Extending benefits is a regular rat ploy too keep the unemployment percentage higher than it otherwise would be so they can use it as an issue.
There are enough ppl in my State collecting.. I don't think I should pay for another State.. I am beginning to detest Washington D.C. politicians and their arrogance!..
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