Democrats Offer Revised Jobless Benefits Plan : Congress: House members unveil a “self-financing” bill to aid recession victims in a move designed to avoid another veto by President Bush.

In a move designed to avoid another veto by President Bush, House Democrats on Monday unveiled a “self-financing” bill that would extend jobless benefits for up to 13 weeks for an estimated 3 million victims of the current recession.

The bill, expected to be approved today by the House Ways and Means Committee, would pay for an additional $5.2 billion in benefits largely by increasing employers’ unemployment insurance taxes, starting in 1993.

While the revenue provisions may be controversial, the House and Senate are expected to pass the bill quickly, possibly this week or early next week, as lawmakers seek ways to alleviate the impact of the continuing economic slump.

There was no immediate indication from the White House whether the revised legislation would be acceptable to the President, who vetoed an earlier, more expensive benefit extension measure that would have increased the federal deficit.

A possible side effect of the new bill is that it could open the door to a flurry of tax-cutting proposals in the Senate, which is normally barred from originating tax bills. The Constitution requires that all revenue-raising measures start in the House of Representatives.

The House measure would raise the wage base subject to the 0.8% unemployment insurance tax to $7,700 from $7,000, beginning in 1993. Because it is a revenue-raising measure, House passage would clear the way for possible Senate amendments to reduce income taxes or approve new tax breaks. Democratic leaders, however, are considered likely to oppose any amendments that would delay enactment of the package.

Bush prevailed last week in a showdown with Congress over anti-recession legislation when the Senate sustained his veto of a bill that would have extended jobless payments for up to 20 weeks at a cost to taxpayers of $6.4 billion.

The President asked Congress to adopt a less expensive bill that would extend benefits for up to 10 weeks at a cost of $3 billion, which the Administration proposes to finance through sales of radio spectrum bands and tougher enforcement of tax laws by the Internal Revenue Service.

The latest Democratic proposal, sponsored by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowksi (D-Ill.), was tailored to meet Bush’s objections that the previous bill would bust last year’s budget agreement and add to the massive $300-billion deficit.

Democrats and some Republicans who supported the earlier bill argued that the prolonged national recession would qualify as an “emergency” under terms of the budget accord, a designation that would allow the extra benefits to be paid without violating the pact.

The new Democratic proposal would provide another 13 weeks of benefits for workers who, after enactment of the measure, exhaust their regular 26 weeks of payments in states where the unemployment rate has averaged 7% or more for the past six months. Those whose benefits expire in states with a lower level of unemployment would receive an extra seven weeks of benefits.

The 13 weeks of extended benefits would be available in California, 18 other states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The seven-week benefit extension would be available in 31 states and the Virgin Islands.

Under another provision, workers who exhausted their right to benefits at some point between last March and enactment of the bill would be entitled to another 13 weeks of benefits if their states’ jobless rate averaged above 7% in the preceding six months. Others who ran out of benefits in states with lower overall unemployment figures would qualify for an extra seven weeks of payments.

In all, 39 states or other jurisdictions, including California, would be eligible for the “reach-back” benefits to cover those who lost their jobs more than six months ago and have not been able to find work since then. No additional benefits would be available in 11 states.

The bill would also allow states for the first time to provide jobless benefits to non-professional school employees--such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians--between academic years.

It would retain a previously approved provision that would provide veterans of the armed forces with the same benefits that civilians receive. Under current law, those who are unemployed following military service must wait longer and get fewer weeks of benefits than their civilian counterparts.

Proposed Extra Unemployment Pay

Here are the locations where workers would get a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and those where workers would get a seven-week extension, based on recent jobless rates: 13 WEEKS:

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Puerto Rico

7 WEEKS:

Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Virgin Islands