Update 5: Bill signed. Procedural vote now scheduled for Nov 2; Looks like no UE vote until next week; COBRA subsidy Extension? Unemployment Extension Update: Reid still wrangling on amendments..
Update: Bill finally signed! see here
Update 4: 11/2 New thread up to follow the UE vote here
Update 3: Reid has put off the vote as expected to next week. Vote to close debate now scheduled for Nov 2nd (CQ Politics):
The extension and expansion of a tax credit for first-time homebuyers has been incorporated into Senate legislation that would extend unemployment benefits.
The Senate will hold a procedural vote on the legislation on Nov. 2. A vote on final passage of the entire package probably will happen by the end of next week.
The underlying bill on unemployment benefits had been held up by disagreements among Senate leaders about how to handle amendments.
…Reid offered a time agreement that would have allowed for consideration of two Republican amendments aimed at funding the unemployment benefit extension using TARP funds and increasing oversight of the bailout. But no amendments will be taken up next week, a spokesman for Reid said Friday….
Update: Deficit for FY 2009 to hit $1.4 trillion, another record: Congress faces hurdles in push for second stimulus…
Update: TOTUS voted against raising the debt ceiling as a Senator. The hypocrisy continues unabated
Another record deficit projection from CBO. Can’t we send TOTUS to the IMF and he can withdraw us from all foreign subsidy obligations the way he does with our defense agreements? I can see it now:
Of course, they are not letting this stop them from adding the ginormous healthcare entitlement to the economy but they appear wobbly on a jobs bill now, figures.
Democratic leaders pressed President Barack Obama on Wednesday to extend more elements of the existing economic-stimulus package, and to possibly add tax cuts that were rejected the first time around, despite a record budget deficit that is giving some lawmakers pause.
On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the federal deficit for fiscal 2009 will be $1.4 trillion…The figure remains the largest budget deficit, measured as a percentage of gross domestic product, since World War II. That so far isn’t stopping Democratic leaders discussing further stimulus measures.
Worried that the economy isn’t creating jobs, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) went to the White House for a hastily planned meeting. White House economists had already embraced extending enhanced unemployment-insurance benefits and subsidies for the purchase of health insurance under Cobra. Both of those measures are currently set to expire Dec. 31.
After the meeting, Mr. Reid made it clear he also wants an extension of a generous tax credit for first-time homebuyers, something the White House was leaning against as too expensive for the number of jobs it might create(…) Go read the entire piece..
They are going to attempt a giant ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE BILL now, which is what they CLAIMED was in the giant spendulus package, guess Apollo Alliance didn’t have enough union jobs to warrant any real infrastructure when they wrote our stimulus bill. Frakkers.
Update 5: Senate makes a deal, UE extension for all for 14 weeks; UE extension held up: Senate debates how many workers should be eligible; Schumer says UE extension vote to come this week; WSJ: WH & Congress negotiating to extend portions of stimulus, including unemployment extension and Employer subsidies of COBRA coverage…
10/23 See Update https://moderateinthemiddle.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/unemployment-update-senate-cloture-vote-on-unemployment-extension-next-tuesday/
Update 6: WSJ covers the Senate proposal:
Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation that would extend by 14 weeks unemployment insurance benefits for jobless Americans in all 50 states.
It would offer an additional six weeks of federal assistance for unemployed people in the hardest-hit states with unemployment rates above 8.5% over a three month period….
Update 5: Okay the Senate has cut a deal to extend UE for everyone not just states over 8.5% UE rate, for 14 weeks, but when will they pass the bill and git r done?. Also, still on the table:
Senate Democrats reached a deal Thursday to extend the benefits an additional 14 weeks in every state. Both proposals are paid for by extending a federal unemployment tax.
Also on the table: extending subsidies for laid-off workers to help them keep the health insurance their former employers provided, known as COBRA. The current program, which covers workers laid off through the end of the year, costs nearly $25 billion.
Congressional leaders haven’t settled on the length of an extension, or how to pay for it.
They are trying to buy off Seniors with a check by increasing..SS PAYROLL TAXES!!!!!
Several bills would issue extra payments to the more than 50 million Social Security recipients, to make up for the lack of a cost-of-living increase next year. One bill would set the one-time payments at $250, matching the amount paid to Social Security recipients and railroad retirees as part of the stimulus package enacted in February.
The payments would cost about $14 billion and would be paid for by applying the Social Security payroll tax to incomes between $250,000 and $359,000 in 2010. Currently, payroll taxes apply only to the first $106,800 of a worker’s income.
Now the Senate is holding up the UE extension arguing over how many people to cover. What new madness is this! But they are fine pushing through a bazillion dollar health care bill? And now they worry about cost on UE extensions??
Man let’s just bark at the moon, it’s probably as effective as calling these whackadoodles on the Hill but here is the linky to look up your Senator if you need a UE extension, call them..
*Ozzy courtesy of jman19428
Moderate in the Middle 