$18 billion jobless benefits bill hits temporary Senate snag

Jobless benefits bill hits speed bump in Senate

WASHINGTON — A measure restoring jobless benefits of up to 99 weeks for people struggling to find work after months of unemployment is expected to rebound from a temporary setback in the Senate.

Despite winning the single Republican vote they needed, Democrats Wednesday fell just short of the 60 votes necessary to defeat a GOP challenge to the jobless benefits measure. Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy was absent to attend the funeral of a close friend.

The defeat should be temporary since Democrats are likely to win a revote Wednesday evening after Leahy returns to Washington.

Republicans were seeking to force Congress to pay for its $18 billion cost and not add to budget deficits topping $1 trillion. But George Voinovich, R-Ohio, broke with his party to vote with Democrats to keep the measure on track.

Later, Democrats by a 51-46 vote killed a move by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to finance the benefits by having the Obama White House erase $20 billion worth of government spending authority that has yet to be specifically allocated.

The temporary measure would extend jobless benefits averaging $335 a week through June 2. A program providing federally-funded benefits to people who have been out of a job more than six months lapsed last week, which means more than 200,000 people a week are unable to reapply for additional weeks of benefits.

Several other programs have lapsed as well, including federal flood insurance, higher Medicare payment rates for doctors and health insurance subsidies for people who have lost their jobs.

The expiration of the programs means that the newly jobless aren’t eligible to sign up for health insurance subsidies but that people currently covered under the so-called COBRA law retain the benefit. People living in flood plains can’t sign up for flood insurance or renew their policies, while the Medicare program has delayed payments to doctors rather than imposing a 21 percent cut.

Eligibility for the expired programs would be restored retroactively. The House would have to vote again on the measure after passing it last month, assuming Democrats are successful in extending its expiration date past Memorial Day. That extra time is needed to iron out the wrinkles of more comprehensive legislation extending most of the lapsed programs through the end of the year and adding in tax cuts for individuals and businesses that have also expired.

Four Republicans helped Democrats on Monday defeat a filibuster by other Republicans seeking to block the Senate from even taking up the measure: Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Voinovich and Scott Brown of Massachusetts. But none of the other three voted with Voinovich.

Specifically at issue in Wednesday’s vote was whether to permit the measure to be financed by adding to the $12.8 trillion national debt. Under Senate rules, a successful GOP challenge could require the chamber to come up with ways to pay for the measure.

Additional weeks of jobless benefits have traditionally been routinely extended during times of high unemployment and have previously always been paid for by adding to the national debt.

But with the deficit easily surpassing $1 trillion — and with the issue of deficits and debt is of increasing concern to voters — many Republicans have changed their minds and are now insisting they be financed by spending cuts elsewhere in the $3.7 trillion federal budget.

Last month, 21 Republicans in the Senate voted for virtually identical legislation providing the jobless benefits without paying for them.