Yesterday, the Washington Examiner reported on the fact that Congress had adjourned without passing a bill to extend unemployment benefits. There are a few things not immediately apparent in that statement.
The Republicans in Congress offerred a number of amendments to the bill to extend unemployment insurance--the amendments were aimed at passing the bill without increasing the deficit. It's an election year, and even some Democrats are beginning to be alarmed at the growth of the deficit over the past eighteen months.
According to the article this is how some of the negotiations went:
"The House passed a sixth-month extension on Thursday, but the Senate was long gone by then, having shut down early so that the late Sen. Robert Byrd's body could lie in repose in the chamber. Any future action by the Senate will have to wait until lawmakers return on July 12.
"On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a measure to extend benefits, with most Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., opposed to the bill because it would add more than $33 billion to the nation's $1.3 trillion deficit. The Senate came up just one vote short of passage, with Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Maine Republicans, voting yes."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, then offered a bill that would extend benefits for two months, paid for by unused stimulus funds, and Senator Reid turned it down.
This is obviously going to be an election issue in November. The challenge will be to remember that the unemployment benefits could have been passed at any time if the Democrats had agreed to pay for them without increasing the deficit. But there are two other things to keep in mind here--unemployment benefits currently extend for almost two years (I know the economy is rough and jobs are scarce, but that seems like an awfully long time), and why are we still spending stimulus money? Hasn't anyone figured out that the best way to stimulate the economy would be to give the stimulus money back to the taxpayer?
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