Senate Votes to Expand Jobless Benefits; Democrats Retreat on Gasoline-Tax Boost
WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted to expand unemployment benefits for workers idled by the recession as House Democrats retreated on a nickel-a-gallon gasoline tax increase for highway and mass-transit improvements.</br></br>The jobless package, expected to cost $5.2 billion in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, fulfills a major pledge by the Democratic leadership. The format of the legislation, however, would give President Bush wide discretion over whether the program is implemented.</br></br>The concessions clear the way for Congress to adjourn for the August recess, and before leaving this weekend, back-to-back appropriations bills are expected to be sent to the White House, raising Senate pay 23% and providing $21.8 billion for federal energy and water programs.</br></br>As rushed through the Senate last night, the unemployment benefits bill would authorize as many as 20 weeks of federal unemployment compensation for workers who have exhausted their initial 26 weeks of state assistance. This compares with the 13 weeks in benefits now provided under current law, with costs shared by the federal and state governments. The measure also would lower the threshold unemployment rate that individual states must meet to qualify for federal benefits.</br></br>According to the Labor Department, 3.4 million workers will exhaust their state and federal benefits in the coming year, and under the current program, workers in only three states in July qualified for the maximum extended benefits. By comparison, under the Democratic proposal, 17 states would have gotten at least 13 weeks in July, including seven that would have enjoyed the additional seven weeks of benefits promised in the bill.