House Panel Approves Jobless Aid, Adds Funds for Home Heating Bills
! In the first budget skirmish of the j' year, an Appropriations subcommit-{' tee in the Democratic House yester-day approved $2.3 billion in supple-|jå£mental funds to keep up unemploy-|*ment benefits and help the unemployed find jobs, then added funds |å£the administration opposed to help å£;poor people pay their winter heating -Hbills.</br></br>The administration had requested i the unemployment money, made i necessary because unemployment j- rates have exceeded last yearÛªs esti-r mates and because some state un-| employment officesÛÓwhose budgets j were cut at the administrationÛªs re-( quest last yearÛÓwere also running I out of funds.</br></br>! (Tip) O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) person-!kally appeared before the subcommit-iteteeÛÓand television camerasÛÓin &favor of the $343 million needed to ;kkeep> open the sfhte unemployment ^offices and $123 million in extra en-i^ergy^assistance for low-income ! households.</br></br>ÐÊ * The administration requested the I supplemental appropriation for unemployment alter Democrats intro- duced an emergency funding measure of their own last week. ÛÏIt is sad that this latest administration fiip-flop did not come sooner,Û OÛªNeill said yesterday.</br></br>Budget cuts voted last December are forcing a reduction in the nationwide job services staffÛÓthe people who help unemployed workers find new jobsÛÓfrom 24,500 to 17j500 just as the nationÛªs unemployment rate is rising dramatically. Some states have already begun to lay off job services workers and close employment centers, leading Republican as well as Democratic members of Congress to question the wisdom of last yearÛªs cuts.