Unemployment Extension Temporarily Halted This Month

 

Due to objections from Republicans, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a 30-day extension of federal unemployment benefits before it left for a two-week recess last month, halting benefits for more than 212,000 people who have been out of work longer than six months, including nearly 9,200 in Massachusetts.

After much wrangling and a failed vote, in mid-April, Congress passed an $18 billion bill to restore unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, and President Obama made it the law of the land. The measure is a welcome relief to hundreds of thousands of people who lost out on the additional weeks of compensation after exhausting their state-paid benefits. They now are able to reapply for long-term unemployment benefits and receive those checks retroactively under the legislation.

One in 10 workers in Massachusetts was unemployed in February, according to the most recent statistics compiled by the state. There were nearly 38,000 new and additional unemployment claims filed, and about 143,000 people who continued their unemployment claims.

Specifically at issue in the Senate votes was whether to permit the measure to be financed by adding to the national debt. Under Senate rules, a successful GOP challenge could have required the chamber to come up with ways to pay for the measure. Democrats said deficit-financed jobless benefits are not only needed to help people unable to find work but are one of the most effective ways to pump up the still-struggling economy.

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 of increasing concern to voters — many Republicans have changed their minds and were 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 temporary legislation extending the jobless benefits and the other programs without paying for them.

-From: “ 9,200 in Bay State lose access to jobless benefits; Democrats seeking to pass an extension” by Matt Viser, Globe Staff, The Boston Globe,  April 6, 2010 , http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/04/06/9200_in_bay_state_lose_access_to_jobless_benefits/ retrieved 4/6/10; “Obama signs into law $18b bill to restore jobless benefits”, by Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, The Boston Globe, April 16, 2010 http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/04/16/congress_oks_18b_measure_to_restore_jobless_benefits/, retrieved 4/16/10 and “Jobless benefits bill gets another chance in Senate; Measure expected to pass today” by Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/04/15/jobless_benefits_bill_gets_another_chance_in_senate/, retrieved 4/16/10.

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