Bush Signs New Extension of Unemployment Benefits

President Bush signed a bill Friday giving jobless Americans up to a half-year in additional unemployment benefits, one day after the government announced that unemployment had soared to an eight-year high.

Departing from his persistent election-year criticism of Congress, Bush said: “I am pleased that the Administration and Congress worked together successfully in the last few days to enact this important extension of benefits.”

The legislation, overwhelmingly passed by the House and Senate on Thursday, was sent to Bush at Camp David, Md., where he was spending the pre-July Fourth federal holiday.

The Labor Department said on Thursday that the June unemployment rate had reached 7.8%, the highest level since 1984. That was bad news not only for jobless Americans but also for Bush, who was counting on a solid economic recovery to boost his reelection chances.

In a written statement, Bush noted the hard economic times and said the extension of benefits “will provide critical support to unemployed Americans until they can find jobs.”

He called anew for Congress to pass other Administration proposals that he says will stimulate economic recovery and be “essential to creating the jobs that all Americans want.”

“I urge the Congress now to turn to this unfinished business and to quickly enact my program for economic growth and job creation to ensure a strong, sustained recovery and long-term economic prosperity for our nation,” Bush said.

The bill he signed Friday was the third extension of unemployment benefits since last year.

A year ago, Bush killed two Democratic efforts to extend jobless coverage, arguing that the economy wasn’t weak enough to merit the expenditure of billions of extra dollars for benefits.

But with election-year attacks by Democrats accusing him of ignoring domestic problems, he had agreed to two compromise extensions before signing the new one Friday.

The extension, aimed at those who exhaust the standard 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, will cost $5.5 billion over six years.

Those living in states with the highest unemployment rates will be entitled to 26 extra weeks of benefits, while all others can get 20 additional weeks. Those weeks will be gradually reduced if the nation’s unemployment rate falls below 7% for two straight months.

The measure is expected to help 1.5 million long-term jobless Americans before it expires March 6.

The current system providing up to 20 extra weeks of benefits expires today. About 2 million Americans who have already received extra benefits during the recession would not be entitled to a fresh round of payments under the newest extension.

The measure also makes it easier for people to get extra jobless benefits in the future. Beginning next March, states could use a more liberal formula for measuring joblessness to determine whether additional coverage will be available.

Fifteen states qualify for the maximum 26 weeks of extra benefits available under the new law. They are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.