Congress Fails to Extend Jobless Benefits before Cutoff
Under pressure from Democrats concerned about the budget deficit, the House of Representatives passed a jobs bill on May 28 that did not include $24 billion in Medicaid aid to states or a $6.8 billion subsidy to help the unemployed maintain health insurance benefits under COBRA.
While advocates succeeded in winning an extension of emergency unemployment benefits and other critical supports, the Senate left for recess without taking final action on the bill. As a result, the COBRA subsidy expired on May 31 and the unemployment extension expired on June 2.
If the Senate passes its own version and the House and Senate agree on final legislation next week, advocates are hopeful these programs, as well as the aid to states, will be reinstated.
In an article on its website on the changes to the House bill, the Coalition for Human Needs said:
“When the economy was in free fall, Members of Congress believed the large number of economists who told them that providing aid to the unemployed and to state governments would prevent further job loss and create private sector jobs because of the purchases individuals and governments would be able to make. There were majorities to approve extensions of unemployment benefits, aid to states, and other means of boosting the economy … The best cure for the deficit is more people at work and paying taxes.”
Many economists have said that one of the best ways to stimulate the economy is to provide unemployment benefits since many jobless workers will likely spend that money on basic necessities like food.
In his June 1 column, New York Times economics columnist David Leondhardt said:
“There are two arguments for more stimulus today. The first is that, however hopeful the economic signs, the risk of a double-dip recession remains. Financial crises often bring bumpy recoveries. The recent troubles in Europe surely won’t help.
The second argument is that the economy has a terribly long way to go before it can be considered healthy. Here is a sobering way to think about the situation: If the next four years were to bring job growth as fast as the job growth during the best four years of the 1990s boom — which isn’t likely — the unemployment rate would still be higher in 2014 than when the recession began in late 2007.
Voters may not like deficits, but they really do not like unemployment.
Looking at the problem this way makes the jobs bill seem like less of a tough call.”
According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than 8 million Americans will run out of unemployment insurance benefits by the end of this year if Congress does not pass the extension.