Democrats Push New Plan to Extend Jobless Benefits

Armed with fresh evidence of a slow economic recovery, congressional Democrats argued anew Monday for a $6.3-billion bill to extend jobless benefits, challenging President Bush to carry out his threat to veto the politically popular measure.

The House is expected to give overwhelming approval today to legislation that would provide up to 20 weeks of additional unemployment compensation for the estimated 3.5 million people who will have exhausted their payments and not found another job. The Senate plans to act on a related bill Thursday.

President Bush, who signed a similar measure last month but refused to declare a budget “emergency,” thus blocking funds to pay for the extra benefits, was reportedly ready to reject the Democrats’ first anti-recession legislation of the year.

In their new bill, House Democrats narrowed Bush’s options by declaring that the President’s signature would confirm that a budget emergency existed and would require him to veto the legislation if he wanted to stop the payments.

Without such a joint declaration of an emergency by Congress and the Administration, last year’s federal budget agreement would prevent outlays for extra jobless benefits unless the legislation includes an offsetting increase in revenues through higher taxes or fees.

The new benefits measure is part of a Democratic strategy designed to highlight differences between the parties even though the Democrats and their Republican allies on this bill may lack the two-thirds majority necessary to override the President’s veto.

On Aug. 2, the House voted 375 to 44 for an extension of the benefits, with 118 Republicans and all but one Democrat voting for the measure. But the debate Monday indicated that some GOP lawmakers may vote against the legislation this time around. The Senate approved the first bill by voice vote.

House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), for example, spoke out against the bill on grounds that it would slow economic recovery.

“People of Georgia want an employment check, not an unemployment check,” Gingrich said.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a co-sponsor of the legislation, said job losses in this recession have been more severe than in any of the last five business downturns.

“There is a lot of pain in America today,” Rostenkowski said. “A record 350,000 persons ran out of unemployment benefits in July. Two million persons have already exhausted benefits this year, and this could go up to 3.5 million next year.”

Some Republicans countered that the legislation debated Monday would make permanent changes in the law rather than provide a temporary extension of benefits to alleviate hardship from the yearlong recession.

Rep. Fred Grandy (R-Iowa) said the additional payments would subsidize and thus encourage an increase in unemployment rather than dealing with the causes of joblessness.

But many Democrats said the money would go to help hard-working people who have lost their jobs and, faced with widespread layoffs in several industries, cannot find new work.

“The President can say there is no emergency--the recession is over--but he is very wrong,” said Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.)

Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.) charged that Republican opponents were making technical arguments about provisions of the budget agreement rather than thinking of the human suffering.

“Have you showed even one scintilla of interest in the 2 million people who lost benefits this year?” Downey asked.

But Rep. Bill Gradison (R-Ohio) said the Democrats were more interested in putting the President into a political corner than passing a law.