October 3 , 2008
CQ Politics

House Passes Unemployment Benefits Extension

By Lydia Gensheimer

The House passed a bill Friday to extend unemployment insurance, as a new report revealed the economy shed more jobs than expected in September.

The Labor Department said 159,000 non-farm jobs were lost last month. Forecasters had predicted a decrease of 100,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 percent.

The bill (HR 6867), which passed 368-28, would provide seven additional weeks of benefits for those whose unemployment insurance has run out, and 13 additional weeks for jobless workers in states with an unemployment rate higher than 6 percent.

The action came only an hour or so after the House had cleared a $700 billion financial rescue package (HR 1424) designed to ease a global credit crunch and restore liquidity to the financial system.

“While we were dealing with these gigantic powers, we overlooked the fact that 10 million Americans are struggling for work,” said Charles B. Rangel , D-N.Y., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

“So many forget that these people do not have the resources to put food on the table, to pay their rent and mortgages, to keep their kids in school, to meet the medical expenses or even to pay for the ever-increasing price of gasoline,” he said.

Democrats rejected any notion that the bill was brought up for political posturing after the House approved the financial rescue bill. Louise M. Slaughter , D-N.Y., who chairs the Rules Committee, said it would be an “outrage” if the House were to pass a financial bailout package and not extend unemployment insurance.

“Unemployment insurance does not simply help those struggling through tough times. Economists consider it one of the best ways to stimulate our economy,” Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., said.

“This program helps those who are out of work the longest at a time when jobs are increasingly hard to find,” said Jerry Weller , R-Ill.

Without the legislation, which would distribute about $6 billion in benefits, nearly 800,000 people will run out of their unemployment benefits in October, according to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain. Republicans objected Thursday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., attempted to get unanimous consent to pass a similar bill (S 3507).

The Senate plans only pro forma sessions between now and the Nov. 4 elections, but it does intend to hold a brief lame-duck session beginning Nov. 17, when senators will be in Washington anyway to elect their leaders for the next Congress. Reid intends to call up the unemployment compensation bill then, his aides said Friday.

Sen. Carl Levin , D-Mich., called on the Senate to make the bill a priority.

“We must ensure that those individuals who have lost their jobs and are looking for work, during a time when industries are losing jobs and the price of food and energy are rising, are not also struggling to put food on their table, pay their utility bills, and cover their mortgages,” Levin said.

Congress included a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits in the war supplemental this year (PL 110-252) but did not succeed in providing an additional extension for high-unemployment states. A similar extension was included in the economic stimulus packages (S 3604; HR 7110) that Democrats pushed unsuccessfully last month.

The White House would not commit the administration’s support for the legislation.

“We have already extended — in some cases doubled the length of the original program, and a 25 percent increase in length for the general program,” spokesman Tony Fratto said. “We’ll see what the House does with this current proposal to further extend unemployment benefits, but we can’t do anything with it until the Senate acts.”