Extension of Jobless Benefits Passed by Senate

Acting swiftly on the first anti-recession measure of the year, the Senate Thursday approved by voice vote a $5.2-billion emergency bill to extend unemployment compensation for up to 20 weeks for workers who have exhausted their regular benefits.

The House is expected to pass the Senate bill today and send it to President Bush, despite White House warnings that he will veto the measure because of its impact on the budget deficit.

Democratic congressional leaders hope to confront the President with the political problem of rejecting a measure intended to help long-term jobless Americans. Sponsors of the measure, however, said Congress went along with Bush when he asked for billions of dollars in emergency funds for Israel, Turkey, Kurdish refugees and storm victims in Bangladesh and that it is time for the President to go along with this bill.

“We’re quick to respond to emergencies abroad,” said Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “This time, we’re talking about folks at home who are out of work.”

The bill would provide 20 weeks of extra benefits for seven states and Puerto Rico, where total unemployment rates have averaged 8% or more for the last six months. Similarly, California, nine other states and Washington, D.C., with average jobless rates above 7%, would receive 13 weeks of additional benefits. Nineteen states with rates above 6% would be entitled to seven more weeks of jobless pay, and 14 states would be able to pay four more weeks of benefits.

Bentsen told the Senate that more than 1.6 million workers already have exhausted their basic benefits, and the Labor Department estimates that a total of 3.1 million workers will run out of unemployment compensation by the end of September.