Senate Republicans Again Block Long-Term Unemployment Benefits

WASHINGTON (AP and KQED) — Senate Republicans narrowly blocked the advance of legislation to restore benefits for the long-term unemployed on Thursday for the second time in less than a month, and Democrats said they intended to call yet another vote on the issue.

"We're one Republican vote away from restoring unemployment benefits for 1.7 million Americans," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The White House called the outcome disappointing, and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein tweeted her displeasure after the vote:

Blocked again. Only one Senate GOP vote stood in the way of restoring unemployment benefits for tens of thousands of Californians. #renewui

— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) February 6, 2014

About 1.3 million Americans, including 222,000 Californians, lost jobless benefits in December when the federal program to assist the long-term unemployed was not extended. Since then, Democrats say the national total has swelled to more than 1.7 million.

The measure that failed Thursday called for a three-month renewal of an expired program that provided up to 47 weeks of federal benefits when state-paid aid runs out, generally after 26 weeks. The cost was estimated at slightly more than $6 billion over a decade. It would have been offset by lowering pension obligations for some companies, a step that would have increased their taxable income.

The vote was 58-40, two shy of the 60 that backers of the measure needed to prevail. That understated the measure's true support, because Reid sided with opponents at the last minute in a maneuver that will permit him to have the issue reconsidered under the Senate's rules.

Republican Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire sided with 52 Democrats and two independents on the vote.

The attempt to renew expired jobless benefits was the first legislation that majority Democrats placed before the Senate this year, and represents the leading edge of their attempt to gain support among economically strapped voters at a time polls show that voters are concerned about the gap between rich and poor.

At a news conference before the vote, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said bills to raise the federal minimum wage, provide women with equal pay for equal work and support early-childhood education would be put to a vote in the near future.

Speaking of Republicans, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Democrats had "met them more than halfway" in proposing a bill that was fully paid for and in offering to give GOP lawmakers the opportunity to make changes if they could round up enough votes.

Reed, who represents a state with 9 percent unemployment, said some Republicans have called the long-term unemployed immoral, a description he said was "somewhat offensive."

One Republican critic of the bill, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, issued a statement that said, "We can get Americans back to work and our economy booming again, but this is not achieved by Washington turning a temporary federal benefit into another welfare program."

Supporters of the legislation say that while joblessness overall is receding, long-term unemployment is at a historically high level.

Under the legislation voted on Thursday, unemployed workers whose state benefits have expired would be eligible for a maximum of 47 additional weeks of aid, depending on the level of joblessness within their states.

The vote came three weeks after Republicans prevented legislation from advancing that would have resurrected the expired program at reduced levels. Unlike the revised bill, the earlier one would have raised deficits under congressional budget scorekeeping standards.