Extra Unemployment Benefits Lose in Senate

Yahoo News ^ | 2/26/04 | LEIGH STROPE

[Libloather]

Extra Unemployment Benefits Lose in Senate
6 minutes ago
By LEIGH STROPE, AP Labor Writer

WASHINGTON - A Senate measure to extend federal unemployment benefits failed by two votes Thursday despite the election year support of 12 Republicans from states hit hard by layoffs.

Democrats tried to attach the amendment to a gun liability bill, but it failed 58-39 in the GOP-controlled Senate.

The measure would have extended the emergency benefits program for six months, providing 13 weeks of extra unemployment benefits to people who exhaust their state benefits — usually after 26 weeks.

The unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent last month from a high of 6.4 percent last summer, but the economy still is not producing many new jobs. In fact, more than 2,400 U.S. employers reported laying off 50 or more workers in January, according to the Labor Department. It was the third-highest level since the government started tracking mass layoffs a decade ago.

Democrats are seizing on the troubled job market to boost their election prospects in November. Some Republicans think that they might be vulnerable.

Those concerns led 39 Republicans to break rank last month to support a benefits extension in the House.

"This vote sends a clear message to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that we cannot keep ignoring the needs of Americans displaced by this faltering economy," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

Republicans said the unemployment rate was consistently dropping and is much lower than in previous recessions. It hit 7.7 percent in 1992 and 10.8 percent in 1982.

"I think we have to determine when's enough," said Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla. "And I happen to think that we've crossed that line."

Nickles said jobless workers have more incentive to find a job when the extra unemployment benefits stop. "The more you pay people not to work, the less inclined they are to work," he said.

Republicans voting in favor of the extension were: Sens. Christopher Bond of Missouri, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, James Talent of Missouri and George Voinovich of Ohio.

Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia was the only Democrat to oppose the amendment.

[Libloather]

Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia was the only Democrat to oppose the amendment.

A RAT with brains. Rare...

[explodingspleen]

Let us hope that this is the start of a trend.

[Just mythoughts]

Give the rats a couple of months and they will try this again. They do not give up.

Now the Republicans should attach this to permanent tax cut legislation and zap this bunch from both ends.

[Dutch Boy]

Extending unemployment benifits is the lefts way of ensuring a higher unemployment rate before the election. It's amazing how quick people find a job when the freebees end.

[Just mythoughts]

I know. The liberals hate tax cuts so much they would reject an extension if it were attached to a permanent tax cut legislation.

[Dutch Boy]

I've known dozens of people that seem to find a job "just before" the benifits end. I've seen it happen for nearly 2 decades. I have a step sister that has never held a tax paying job. She is about 40. She collects all sorts of money from the government. Her old problem is being lazy. It burns me to no end. BTW she before she was convicted of a felony she only voted democrat. Shocking, I know.....

[Just mythoughts]

You are absolutely correct they are the little piggies.

They are addicts, cradle to grave. The UNION leadership of education has taught them well. They have "rights" you know.

The only way for we taxpayers to keep the money we earn is through tax cuts. Liberals hate tax cuts like they hate President Bush.

[Chuckster]

"The more you pay people not to work, the less inclined they are to work,"

Bears repeating.

[oceanview]

did it fail because of the gun law tag-along?

because a clean bill should pass, and Bush would be insane to stop a clean extension of benefits. the job market in many sectors is horrible, the unemployment statistic is meaningless.

[sarasmom]

Really, so horrible that we have to amnesty 8-10 million illegal alien workers?
It is indeed very hard for people older than 50 to gain new employment,in new industries, at former compensation levels.
Might be due to all the taxpayer funded government largesse they voted for, over the past thirty years.
As I am only nominally a baby boomer, since I was born in the later years,I can enjoy the schaedenfraude.
I know tons of people who lost their life savings in the dot com bust.
I still scratch my head on that.Why would anyone invest money in a company that does not charge for product, and has no plan to do so, has incredibly huge expenses, and the only revenue actually generated is based on advertising and investment income?
At least with the LOTTO,I have a guaranteed chance of winning, small though that may be.
Ficticious paper fortunes that burned greedy hands have driven up the cost of everything, but no one has the guts to admit deflation is the ultimate price of ignorant, unbridled greed.
Extend unemployment past 26 weeks?
Are they nuts?
Move to where the jobs are, and downsize.
The whining I hear comes primarily from the very people who created a false economy, and who think an income less than $50K is not enough to live on in the USA.
I am not moved by such whining.

[oceanview]

too bad the CEOs and executives don't fall into your category of "those that created a false economy", or "think an income of less then $50K is not enough to live on in America". They are raking it in at ever increasing amounts.

The "dot com" bubble workers have been flushed from the employment ranks a long time ago, the layoffs going on now are not dotcom employees, they are people who work at profitable US companies losing their jobs to offshoring. In reality, many don't even have a chance at finding similar jobs at similar wages, they are taking jobs in the service industry at 1/2 their former pay or less. The unemployment benefits they draw are a pittance, considering many of these people are having to deconstruct their lifestyles, homes, autos, everything. I'd like to know what you would do tomorrow if half your family income was eliminated.

[Lancey Howard]

....it failed 58-39 in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Republicans voting in favor of the extension were: Sens. Christopher Bond of Missouri, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, James Talent of Missouri and George Voinovich of Ohio.

Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia was the only Democrat to oppose the amendment.

Oh. Okay.

[Jeff Gannon]

Don't forget states are sitting on $5 billion in UNUSED unemployment compensation funds.

[sarasmom]

I would sling hash at a restaurant, or clean houses, or mow lawns.Oh wait, that might be hard, what with all the available illegals competing with me.
Nowhere in my previous post did I address the illegal actions of the CEOs regarding corporate crimes.
But I dont see a lot of CEOs whining about unemployment benefits.Do you?
And no, as a matter of fact, the primary dot com investment losers are just now beginning to enjoy the fruits of their asinine "investments".
Yes the people who actually worked in that industry have moved on, but those that financed the entire debacle now want to continue to live in the manner they became accustomed to, and want me to pay for it.
Sorry, no deal.
Most of my life I have worked in drug-free positions, so perhaps my short term memory may not be as degraded as others.
IT workers pre Y2K- remember that very expensive, frantic era?
Those who are now unemployed, they could not have cared less when people were screaming about unfair labor practices and artificial wage suppression, in the blue and pink collar low income sectors.
They just loved their "under the table" illegal employees.
Wink and nod at corruption.
Thats the ticket!
It is kind of fun to see what is going to happen to property rates when nobady can afford those expensive gated McMansions and Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac go bust.