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<p>May 13, 2004 -- John Forbes Kerry, presidential prospect, is ignoring his day job. Kerry says he supports extending emergency federal unemployment benefits. Whether that's a sound position is another matter, but it is Kerry's position.</p> <p>Tuesday, the U.S. Senate voted 59-40 in favor of the extension.</p>

<p>A push by Senate Democrats to extend jobless benefits lost by a single vote yesterday - as their nominee-to-be, John Kerry, missed the vote while campaigning in Kentucky.</p> <p>Kerry, the only senator to miss the vote, said he didn't come back to Washington because "we were told that no matter what would happen, [the Republicans] would change a vote in the Senate and they were not going to let it happen."</p>

We never thought we'd be grateful to have Sen. John Kerry [related, bio] too busy on the campaign trail to tend to his day job. But there's a first for everything. A Democratic election-year favorite - extending federal unemployment benefits for six months - went down the drain yesterday by one vote. And guess who wasn't in the Senate chamber to put the measure over the top? Proponents needed 60 senators to support the procedural move to get the extension considered. It failed 59-40. That's a very good thing. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent last month. Employers added...

[FREEPER NOTE: The RATS lost by one vote. sKerry was in Kentucky campaiging.] Clinton Deeply Dissappointed Over Senate's Failure to Extend Unemployment Benefits Senator calls on President Bush to show leadership and do the right thing for America’s workersWashington, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed her deep disappointment over the Senate vote today, opposing an extension of unemployment insurance benefits. The vote was 59 to 40. In her statement prior to the vote, Senator Clinton pointed out that it would only take a few words from President Bush to turn the tide in favor of providing assistance to the...

<p>May 12, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - A push by Senate Democrats to extend jobless benefits lost by a single vote yesterday - as their nominee-to-be, John Kerry, missed the vote while campaigning in Kentucky.</p> <p>Kerry, the only senator to miss the vote, said he didn't come back to Washington because "we were told that no matter what would happen, [the Republicans] would change a vote in the Senate and they were not going to let it happen."</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate by a single vote rejected an election-year effort Tuesday to extend federal unemployment benefits. Democrats tried to attach the benefit to a corporate tax bill. On a 59-40 vote in the GOP-controlled Senate, they fell just shy of the 60 votes needed to overcome objections that extending the benefits violated last year's budget agreement.

Because Sen. John Kerry keeps refusing to show up for the job for which he is still on the taxpayers' dole, the Democrats today failed in their election-year ploy to extend federal jobless benefits yet again despite the booming economy. The Senate rejected the stunt by one vote. The only one of the 100 lawmakers not voting was Kerry, who deemed it more important to attack the president in the Bush stronghold of Kentucky. Although Democrats didn't gripe about the 5.6 percent unemployment rate when Bill Clinton was running for re-election in 1996, now they claim the same rate is...

By MARY DALRYMPLE, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Senate by a single vote rejected an election-year effort Tuesday to extend federal unemployment benefits.   Democrats tried to attach the benefit to a corporate tax bill. On a 59-40 vote in the GOP-controlled Senate, they fell just shy of the 60 votes needed to overcome objections that extending the benefits violated last year's budget agreement. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was the only senator who missed the vote. Kerry was campaigning Tuesday in Kentucky. The amendment would have offered emergency federal unemployment...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - Unless some corrections are made, California's unemployment insurance fund faces years of deficits and borrowing, a state Assembly committee was told Wednesday.</p> <p>"It's an ugly scenario," said Deborah Bronow, an Employment Development Department deputy director.</p> <p>Bronow said the fund will be forced to go to the federal government for a first-time loan of more than $1 billion this year and will have to borrow increasing amounts in future years to remain solvent, with the total topping $4 billion in 2008.</p>

By LEIGH STROPE AP Labor Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican leaders say they will extend federal unemployment benefits Thursday, blunting Democratic accusations that the GOP-controlled Congress favors tax cuts for the rich over aid for jobless Americans. The federal program, providing 13 weeks of emergency benefits to people who exhaust their state aid, is scheduled to expire May 31. Congress adjourns Friday for a holiday recess. In announcing Wednesday's agreement by Republican House leaders, Rep. Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., said: ``I am certain that unemployed Americans will be able to get through the Memorial Day holiday without having to worry about...