Free Republic

Hovering in the background of the “fiscal cliff” debate is the prospect of 2 million people losing their unemployment benefits four days after Christmas. “This is the real cliff,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. He's been leading the effort to include another extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed in any deal to avert looming tax increases and massive spending cuts in January. “Many of these people are struggling to pay mortgages, to provide education for their children,” Reed said this past week as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, rejected each other’s opening offers for a...

Warning that more than 2 million Americans are poised to lose their long-term unemployment insurance, some Democrats are calling on Congress to extend the “economic lifeline” before it expires next month. Some Republicans, though, are demanding that an extension of jobless benefits—and any other form of new spending—be offset through savings or spending reductions elsewhere in the federal budget. In a letter to party leaders last week, Sen. Jeff Sessions said that extending the unemployment benefits another year carries a $26 billion price tag. Couple that with the cost of keeping the 2 percent payroll tax cut on the books...