American House Of Lords Finally Passes Unemployment Benefits

Yesterday the Senate finally approved H.R. 4213, the tax extenders bill, (62-36) that will extend unemployment benefits to American workers who have been thrown out of work by the unsustainable Bush economic policies.

The Senate measure contains one-year extensions of unemployment benefits and COBRA health insurance, plus extra funding to help states pay for Medicaid. The bill would also help struggling private pension funds and block a scheduled cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

Beyond those provisions, the bill carries renewals of several expired tax credits, including those for research and development, biodiesel, energy-efficient home improvements and the deduction of state and local sales taxes. Those extensions helped attract the support of Republicans, and the praise of business groups.

"That's a jobs bill," said Dorothy Coleman, the vice president of tax and domestic economic policy for the National Association of Manufacturers.

Coleman praised the research-and-development credit extension as a particularly effective job creator. "Going ahead and acting on these [tax extensions] gives companies some certainty" about how they can spend money in the future, she added.

Some experts were less impressed with the stimulative properties of the tax extenders, arguing that aid to the unemployed is far more important.

"The single most important thing you can do is [unemployment benefits] and COBRA, because you're providing money to people you know are going to be spending it," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

Only one Democrat, or quasi-Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted with Republicans against working families. Five Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats. Earlier in the day, Harry Reid had to call for a cloture vote to shut off the GOP filibuster. It passed 66-33, again, the only Democrat supporting the filibuster being right-winged Ben Nelson. Interestingly 9 Republicans abandoned their party's obstructionist strategy and joining the Democrats to shut down the filibuster.