Unemployment Insurance Extension? Really?

Yesterday the Senate finally reached a bipartisan deal on extending unemployment insurance. Does anyone think the House is going to give it serious consideration? The 5 months worth of benefits (around $10 billion) would go until May… if the House passes it. The Senate will vote on it towards the end of March, after the Senate gets back from yet another vacation.

The bill is being cosponsored by 5 Republicans, Dean Heller (R-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), and 5 Democrats, Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH),and Dick Durbin (D-IL). It allows for retroactive payments going back to December 28th. Reed, the chief architect of the bill:

“There are a lot of good people looking for work and I am pleased we’re finally able to reach a strong, bipartisan consensus to get them some help. Restoring this much needed economic lifeline will help job seekers, boost our economy, and provide a little certainty to families, businesses, and the markets that Congress is capable of coming together to do the right thing. It has now been 75 days since UI expired and it needs to be renewed. We’re not at the finish line yet, but this is a bipartisan breakthrough. I am grateful to Senator Heller for his leadership and for my many colleagues on both sides of the aisle who worked constructively to find a way forward. I join Rhode Islanders and millions of people across the country in calling on Congress to pass this essential, common sense legislation without further delay and take additional action to help save and create jobs."

Greg Sargent predicted that the House Republicans will kill the bill after it passes the Senate. "In raw political terms," he wrote, "that means UI as a key issue is back. Now the Senate will vote on it, and Senate Republicans will be challenged to vote against it. Senate candidates on both sides will be asked by the press to take a position on it. Presuming it passes the Senate, which it should (any Dem defections are unlikely), the House GOP will have to decide whether to kill it-- by not allowing a vote on it or by voting it down. House Republicans will now have to confront the issue. With vulnerable Democrats in red states looking to make the 2014 elections about which party has a real agenda to boost economic mobility, combat inequality, and help alleviate poverty-- as opposed to All Obamacare All The Time-- this may well help draw the contrast."

Rick Weiland, the populist insurgent running for the open South Dakota Senate seat-- and endorsed by Blue America-- was happy to hear about the deal, of course, but… Here's how he put it on the phone a few minutes after Jack Reed announced they had the 5 Republicans aboard they needed.

"What we really need is for this Congress to pass the President's 'jobs bill' and put America back to work fixing our crumbling infrastructure. I'm obviously relieved that millions of our unemployed fellow citizens are getting a few more months of unemployment benefits but I believe people want to work. It's time this Congress gets to work and pass the 'jobs bill.'"

Who would argue with that? Well… start right here: