Help for the jobless

November 25, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

Voters clearly want lawmakers to ease the nation’s unemployment pain, but a sharply divided Congress is still balking at extending jobless benefits for those out of work a long time.

Unless Congress acts by Tuesday, an estimated 2 million people slated to receive extended benefits will not get them on time, if ever. And Congress is taking this week off for a Thanksgiving recess, reconvening Monday.

If lawmakers don’t extend the benefits, it will be the third time this year that they will have missed a deadline to do so, even though the nation’s unemployment rate, at 9.6 percent, hasn’t budged since May. Earlier this year, after Congress failed to extend benefits before deadlines, jobless workers got retroactive benefits once legislation was passed.

The average family receives about $290 a week from the benefits, which can last up to 99 weeks, depending on a state’s jobless rate. State employer taxes pay for the first 26 weeks. In weeks 27 to 99, a federal program funds most of the benefits; that’s what could be affected if Congress doesn’t act.

Polls leave no doubt that Americans’ top priority is job growth, yet last week, the first time Congress convened since the election, the House fell short on a vote to extend benefits, and the Senate didn’t try.

The House last week got a 258-154 majority for a $12.5 billion jobless benefits extension through Feb. 28, but the measure failed because it was brought up under a special rule that required a two-thirds majority of those voting, or 275 votes, for passage.

Many Republicans saw the vote as a cynical Democratic ploy.

“Are you listening to the American people?” asked Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., R-La., saying that voters had sent a message in the elections that they want more fiscal responsibility.

“The fact is that we can both provide this help and pay for it by cutting less- effective stimulus spending,” he said, citing one GOP plan to pay for the jobless aid.

Democrats countered that the nation is experiencing a true emergency, and this was no time to quibble over spending offsets.

“Any family receiving unemployment insurance would tell you that these benefits do not provide for a luxurious lifestyle without financial worries,” said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. “These same families would tell you that without these benefits, they would lose their home, lose their car and lose the ability to feed their children.”

Democrats see Republican hypocrisy at work. Major Bush-era tax cuts expire Dec. 31, and most Democrats want to continue only those for individuals earning less than $200,000 a year and joint filers making less than $250,000.

Most Republicans want all tax cuts extended, including for those making more than $250,000. That would add an estimated $700 billion to the deficit during the next 10 years.

“The same Republicans who want to increase our deficit by extending massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans were willing to leave average Americans to fend for themselves,” charged Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla.