Negotiators continue working toward longer-term deal on jobless benefits

Senate negotiators are working hard to hammer out a deal to longer-term deal extend benefits for the unemployed. 

Lawmakers don't want to give up on a bill that would extend jobless benefits for those out of work for at least six months, as well as the payroll tax cut and the Medicare "doc fix," Democratic aides and other sources told The Hill on Friday. 

Democrats are pushing for an 11-month extension of unemployment benefits that would, most likely, put any additional reauthorizations into the hands of a lame-duck Congress after the 2012 elections, according to a source. 

That would mean a slightly less expensive extension — a full year of a maximum of 99 weeks runs about $44 billion — and would likely involve a compromise below that level. 

Without a longer term agreement there is every indication that lawmakers would settle on a two-month extension of all the priorities, possibly by extending current law through February, the sources said. 

House Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) told The Hill on Friday that drug testing and GED requirements are off the table, two components of the Republican-sponsored, House-passed bill. 

"We are fighting to preserve the program," he said.

"There a lot of calls going on between House and Senate Democrats."

Levin said the number of weeks of federal benefits is an issue that will be continued next year isn't settled yet.

Democrats in both chambers along with unemployment benefits advocates are pressing for a continuation of the maximum of 99 weeks — that includes a maximum of 26 weeks provided by the states and up to 73 weeks for those in states with, usually, double-digit unemployment levels. 

The Republican package cut benefits to 79 weeks beginning in 2012 with another 20-week decrease to 59 weeks in the summer, a move Democrats have said they strongly oppose. 

Talk around the Capitol hallways is that a compromise could mean about 79 weeks of federal benefits — in line with a 20-week cut mentioned by President Obama in his jobs bill. 

Democrats also are asking for waivers for additional weeks for the 10 states with unemployment levels above 10 percent — California, Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island and South Carolina — until their unemployment rate drops, according to October data released by the Labor Department. 

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has been consistently critical of an benefits extension and who pushed last year to require drug testing, told reporters that the federal government should completely cut all federal benefits. 

"I think it ought to be 26 weeks like we've always done, and that sends a message that, hey, we ought to get back to work," Hatch said.