Here we go again. The Senate is going to recess in a week and if they don't pass a package that includes extended unemployment benefits, COBRA health insurance benefits for the unemployed, funding to states under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund, the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) that shores up Medicaid funding, much of that funding will expire next week.
Apparently the objections of Sens. Cantwell and Kerry to closing a tax loophole that benefits wealthy money managers has been overcome.
And there's been some grumbling among Democrats over one of the bill's funding sources -- a measure to close the "carried interest" loophole that allows investment fund managers to pay less than half as much as regular rich people in income taxes. Some Senate Dems pushed for Finance Committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to go soft on fund managers.
They failed: The bill Baucus and House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) unveiled Thursday gave private equity lobbyists nothing to cheer about.
This bill would not provide for a Tier 5 of additional benefits, going beyond the current 99 week limit, but will extend funding for UI for the remainder of they year. So if Reid can overcome a likely filibuster from Coburn, at least they won't have to go through this calendar drama before every recess. But it's not just Republicans who pose a problem. The bill has to go back to the House, where Blue Dogs are threatening to raise hell.
"It's time to start paying for things," said Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.), a freshman who voted for last year's economic stimulus bill but said she is likely to oppose the next spending package, scheduled to hit the House floor Tuesday. "We've done some good things, but one of the best things we could do right now is get control of our fiscal house."
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Many Democrats also are scrutinizing emergency spending on the economy. Dahlkemper, facing a well-funded Republican car dealer in the blue-collar district she seized from the GOP in 2008, said businesses back home complain that they want to start hiring but are getting few applicants because Congress has repeatedly extended unemployment benefits.
"Now, whether that's true or not, I'm still trying to decipher," she said. "But I think it's something we really need to look at."
That's a nice message for a Democrat. "Some say" that unemployment benefits make people too lazy to want to go back to work. (Note: if you are unemployed and live in Rep. Dahlkemper's district and are unemployed, maybe you can call her and get her to refer you to all those employers out there who really want to hire you.)
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued a report on why the bill is necessary, and why budgetary objections to it are "misguided."
[T]he key to boosting economic activity and strengthening the recovery is to create additional demand. The jobs bill contains several measures that will do this. Three of the most important are extensions of existing Recovery Act measures: renewing the provisions that provide extra weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) and subsidized COBRA health insurance coverage for unemployed workers to the end of the year and providing additional fiscal assistance to states struggling to balance their budgets.
These measures are widely recognized as highly effective ways to boost economic activity and create jobs. Providing financial relief to unemployed workers who will be forced to cut consumption sharply if they no longer have UI benefits to replace part of their lost income does this directly. Similarly, providing fiscal relief for cash-strapped states reduces the amount of demand-reducing, job-killing budget cuts and tax increases the states otherwise will have to enact to meet their balanced-budget requirements.
Getting people back to work--and ensuring the million who haven't been able to find jobs don't become completely destitute--has to be the top priority for the economy.