During consideration of a corporate tax bill (S. 1637) on May 11, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) offered an amendment that would have provided up to 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits for jobless workers who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. Under the amendment, an additional 26 weeks of benefits would have been provided to long-term jobless workers in states with particularly high unemployment rates. Democrats were unable to garner the 60 votes required to waive a budget point of order, and the amendment was defeated, 59-40.
On February 4, the House approved a proposal authorizing funding for a six-month extension of unemployment compensation benefits through the Community Services Block Grant program (see The Source, 2/6/04). The law (P.L. 108-26) providing an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits to jobless workers who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits expired on December 31.
Explaining that 1.4 million people have exhausted their unemployment benefits, Sen. Cantwell said these Americans “are making all sorts of choices. They are putting up their homes for sale. They are moving in with relatives. They are selling their family possessions to pay mortgage payments. They are trying to hold on so this economy recovers. And they are hoping the next several months will bring good economic news, as I hope it does…But even if we have good economic news, we are not going to have the return of 1.4 million people or 2 million people back to work in the next several months. The question is, do we want to meet our obligation under the Federal program and help them.”
Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) argued that extending the unemployment benefits would discourage people from seeking employment: “During times of high unemployment, during times of recession, we extend the Federal program so those who have fallen on hard times in a tough economy, can get assistance. Those jobs may not be out there, so we extend the program an extra 13 weeks, sometimes 26 weeks, and we allow the States to extend it even further. But when the economy is growing, is it really necessary to extend those Federal unemployment benefits? Not only is it not necessary, does it, in fact, inhibit somebody from taking the initiative, No. 1, to either create their own job, to become that entrepreneur on eBay or wherever else they are going to create the job, or, No. 2, to do what it takes to go out and find a job?”
