Senate votes to extend unemployment aid, home-buyer tax credit

WASHINGTON (AP) — Recognizing that a weak economy still needs a government boost, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to provide the jobless with up to 20 weeks in additional unemployment benefits and expand a first-time home-buyer tax credit to include a far larger pool of people entering the dormant housing market.

The $24 billion bill, passed 98-0, also provides tax relief for struggling businesses. It comes to the rescue of more than 1 million out-of-work people who will run out of benefits by the end of the year. Everyone will receive 14 weeks of additional benefits, and those in states with unemployment rates of 8.5 percent and above get six weeks on top of that.

With enactment, the jobless in the hardest-hit states could receive up to 99 weeks of benefits, which average about $300 a week. That would well exceed the previous record of 65 weeks during the 1970s.

The $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, enacted as part of the stimulus package last February and set to expire this month, would be extended and expanded to include a $6,500 credit for people who have lived in their current residences at least five years.

Congress has no choice but to act when there are 15 million jobless chasing 3 million jobs and 7,000 people run out of benefits every day, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. Economists talk about the end of the recession, he said, but “for most Americans, it will still be some time before things start getting better.”

The legislation now goes to the House, which is expected to quickly approve it and send it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday that the unemployment-benefit extension was “critically important,” and the tax-credit aspects of the legislation were “acceptable” to the House.

The House acted in late September to extend unemployment benefits but only to the jobless in the 27 states where the unemployment rate is above 8.5 percent.

The bill bogged down in the Senate, first when senators from states with lower jobless rates demanded that the extension apply to all people exhausting their benefits, then with negotiations over adding the home-buyer and business tax credits. Then, Republicans held up floor action when Democrats blocked them from offering amendments on matters unrelated to the base bill.

“Opponents have put up obstacles at every turn to delay the passage of this bill, and as a result of these delaying tactics, approximately 200,000 workers have lost their benefits in this last month,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a chief proponent of the more- expansive benefit extension.

Judy Conti of the National Employment Law Project said it was “shameful” that the Senate procrastinated while an estimated 1.3 million face a loss of benefits by the end of the year.

The current unemployment rate is 9.8 percent and is expected to move into double digits before companies start rehiring despite a recent improvement in gross domestic product.