Oklahoma labor groups want Coburn, Inhofe to end opposition to jobless benefits bill

Okla. groups want jobless benefits bill passed

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma labor groups said Wednesday they want the state’s two U.S. senators to end their opposition to a bill that would extend unemployment benefits for laid-off workers.

Sen. Tom Coburn is “holding unemployed workers hostage” with his vote “to make political points on deficit spending,” Tim O’Connor, president of the Central Oklahoma Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said at a Capitol news conference.

Coburn and Sen. Jim Inhofe joined other Republicans last week in opposing an extension of unemployment benefits as part of a larger tax and spending package, citing concerns about adding to the budget deficit.

“People who are unemployed, not only in Oklahoma but around this country, need a helping hand,” said Loyce Edwards, a retired United Church of Christ pastor who also spoke at the news conference. “We are sending a message loud and clear. We do want Congress to stop stalling.”

Senate Democrats now want to combine in one bill the unemployment benefits with an extension of a popular tax credit for people who buy new homes. They need one more vote to reach the 60 needed to advance the bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday. Reid said he had commitments from two Republican senators, but the death earlier this week of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., left Democrats one vote shy.

The bill would provide up to 99 weekly unemployment checks averaging $335 to people whose 26 weeks of state-paid benefits have run out. The benefits would cost $33.9 billion. There are no offsets in the bill, so the cost would add to the budget deficit.

That’s what most concerns Coburn, said John Hart, a spokesman for the senator. Hart said Coburn supports extending unemployment benefits “as long as they’re paid for.” Hart said Coburn’s efforts to ensure that have been blocked by Reid.

“The people who spoke at the Capitol are well-intended but misguided,” Hart said. “If we don’t start paying for things, rather than borrowing and adding to the debt, we won’t have an economy left to protect.”

Inhofe said in a statement that “I simply think the time is long past due to pay for what we spend in Washington. We can’t keep adding tens of billions to the debt, as the Democrats’ version of unemployment insurance would have us do.”

Coburn and Inhofe want the extension of the benefits to be paid for using unspent federal stimulus money.

Jim Griffy, the state political coordinator for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said that extending the unemployment payments would provide a stimulus, as those who received the benefits would spend the money on items such as food and housing.

“Spending another $30 billion to put money into the hands of desperate families is the essence of effective stimulus,” Griffy said. “With all the moral and ethical considerations aside, it’s unbelievable that you can see this kind of political gamesmanship on an issue that is so important to everyone.”

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has said that if the benefits aren’t extended, unemployment benefits for more than 200,000 people a week would be phased out. She said more than 1 million people already have lost benefits.