Senate Puts Conditions on OK of Extra Jobless Benefits

The Senate approved extra jobless payments for 1 million long-term unemployed Americans Thursday by a vote of 76 to 20, but not before it prohibited extra compensation for idled workers with annual taxable incomes above $120,000.

In addition, the Senate voted 82 to 14 for an amendment to the benefits bill that would lock in the reduction of 252,000 federal jobs promised by President Clinton as part of his government reform plan.

These Senate changes to the House-approved measure may delay final congressional approval. It was unclear whether House leaders would accept the changes or demand a conference to negotiate a compromise.

“It certainly doesn’t expedite the process,” said a spokesman for Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, which originated the legislation.

The bill would make the extra benefits available retroactive to Oct. 2, when the last emergency extension of unemployment insurance expired.

About 60,000 unemployed workers exhaust their basic 26 weeks of benefits each week. Those in California and four other states with the highest unemployment rates would be entitled to another 13 weeks of benefits. In the remaining states, workers would receive seven additional weeks.

The ban on jobless payments to workers with incomes above $120,000 was approved, 52 to 43, although opponents argued that it would introduce “means-testing” to a program that historically has been available without regard to income.

Sen. Hank Brown (R-Colo.), sponsor of the amendment, said that the change would save $2 million by denying benefits to 26,500 people over the next four months.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, argued unsuccessfully that the ban would undermine the principle that benefits are available as a matter of right to those who qualify.

The usually politically popular bill followed a tangled path through Congress this fall. Battles over financing delayed passage in both the House and Senate. Most of the bill would be financed by requiring states to help find new jobs sooner for workers who have become permanently unemployed.

It also would be funded with savings from limiting the ability of recent legal immigrants to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments--a provision that was hotly contested by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.