The Senate voted twice more on whether to restore emergency unemployment insurance for 1.7 million (and counting) Americans who've been jobless for six months or more Thursday afternoon, and Republicans blocked the aid twice more.
A cloture vote on an amendment giving Republicans much of what they'd claimed to require to support an unemployment bill fell just one vote short of the 60-vote supermajority required. (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid subsequently changed his vote to no for procedural reasons, so the final vote was technically 58 to 40.) Republican Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire voted in favor of unemployment aid. Immediately after, Republicans again blocked the underlying bill without the set of concessions that hadn't been enough for them. In that vote, Heller was the only Republican voting yes.
The first vote was on an amendment in which Democrats gave Republicans much of what they said they wanted in exchange for extending unemployment insurance, but it wasn't enough:
At a certain point—a point we're well past—you just have to conclude that, regardless of what they're demanding at any given point, Republicans simply don't want aid for people struggling with long-term unemployment in an economy with nearly three job seekers for every available job.
12:08 PM PT:
Harry gave them an offset. Kirk voted no anyway. He represents Illinois, which has among the highest unemployment in the nation.