Unemployment rate prompting push for more jobless benefits

Lawmakers are pushing for a further extension of unemployment benefits before the year's end now that the jobless rate has broken double digits.

The momentum is building as President Barack Obama on Friday signed the latest bill that provides at least 14 extra weeks of unemployment insurance for those whose benefits would expire before 2010.

But that won’t help jobless Americans whose benefits expire next year, and lawmakers are pointing at the October jobs report, released Friday, that shows unemployment at 10.2 percent as proof that another extension is necessary.

"I certainly support that," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) last month. "We want to start creating jobs again, and we want to help people until that time happens."
 
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who worked with Shaheen to shepherd the extension through the upper chamber, said the need for another extension will depend on the swiftness of a recovery.

"I would think we would always hold in reserve the opportunity, the possibility to extend benefits further," Reed said. "But our hope is that the markets will come back and that this will be not as pressing an issue."

But most economists expect job woes to persist for months. The White House's own estimates put the jobless rate at an average of 9.8 percent in 2010 and 8.6 percent the year after.

Both Shaheen and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), the House sponsor of the unemployment aid bill, want to provide the extra weeks of benefits to those who would see their unemployment insurance expire during any part of 2010, not just for those whose benefits end this year.

The bill signed Friday provides an additional 20 weeks of unemployment aid for those in states where jobless rates exceed 8.5 percent and an extra 14 weeks for people in other states.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled that he's open to the idea.

“Sen. Reid is going to continue to look for ways to support job creation and provide relief for unemployed Americans as our job market continues to recover,” said Reid's spokesman, Joel Payne.

The move has bipartisan support. Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) told The Hill that she would back McDermott's effort for more benefits in 2010, especially for states like hers, where unemployment has far surpassed 10 percent. Michigan has the nation's highest unemployment rate, at 15.3 percent.

But lawmakers from the two parties are likely to split over how to pay for more benefits. Democrats paid for the $2.6 billion cost of the most recent extension by prolonging the federal unemployment tax, paid by all employers. Loath to extend a tax, Senate Republicans proposed offsetting the cost by using bailout or stimulus funds, but the Democrats blocked their amendments. The struggle over amendments stalled the bill in the Senate for three weeks.

Miller said that Congress could "finance a lot ... by not passing this jobs-killing healthcare bill."