House defeats Democratic effort to extend unemployment benefits

From Wire Reports
Published: June 12, 2008

The House narrowly defeated yesterday a Democratic attempt to give unemployed Americans an extra three months of jobless benefits after the White House threatened to veto the bill. Democratic leaders said they will bring the bill back for a second vote today.

The bill would have extended the average $300-a-week benefit check by 13 weeks for all unemployed Americans. Job searchers in such high-unemployment states as Alaska, California, Michigan and Rhode Island would have been able to get an extra 13 weeks on top of that.

House Democratic leaders brought up the bill under a procedure that required a two-thirds vote for approval. The final vote was 279-144, three votes shy of the two-thirds margin, the same as needed to overcome a presidential veto.

The majority leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that the vote today will only need a majority for passage. “We’re not going to let this sink,“ Hoyer said. “Our work is not done,“ added House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Majority Democrats said that the legislation was needed because of the tough economy and rising unemployment rate. The number of unemployed Americans rose to 8.5 million in May. The jobless rate rose to 5.5 percent in May from 5 percent in April, the biggest monthly rise since 1986.

“Republicans want to extend unemployment benefits in a responsible way. We believe this bill was irresponsible,“ Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said after the vote. “There’s a way to do this in a bipartisan way and extend unemployment benefits in those areas where it’s needed.“

Republicans also accused House Democrats of playing political games by requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. The bill would have passed if it needed only a simple majority, but Democrats can now campaign on Republicans blocking an unemployment extension. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill., called it “cynical election-year maneuvering.“

Democrats, for their part, criticized Republicans for voting against the bill.

“There is no better example after today’s vote why we need a change in November,“ Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., the House’s fourth-ranking Democrat said after the vote.

The White House threatened to veto the bill only hours before the vote. The Bush administration said that such emergency steps as extending unemployment benefits have historically been taken only when the unemployment rate jumps considerably higher than the 5.5 percent reported for May.

The Bush administration also said that the bill gives extended benefits to all states regardless of their unemployment rates. For example, South Dakota and Wyoming reported unemployment rates of 2.6 percent. “It is fiscally irresponsible to provide extra benefits in states with low unemployment rates,“ the White House said.

White House officials said they could support a bill that offers the 13-week extension only to high-unemployment states. Democrats said, however, that the 8.5 million already unemployed should not have to wait for things to get worse before the federal government helps them.

“These millions count on us to do the right thing and respond when they are in need,“ said Rep. Charles Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Republicans said that the Democratic bill also deletes a provision that requires people to work 20 weeks before getting unemployment benefits.

Among North Carolina’s House delegation, all of the Democrats supported the bill, as did Republican Reps. Robin Hayes, Walter Jones and Patrick McHenry. Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx, Howard Coble and Sue Myrick voted against it.

In the Senate, Democrats planned to add the bill to a must-pass war-spending bill.