New Online Tool Tallies Senate Voting Records on Extending Unemployment Benefits
Amid the worst recession in 30 years and an unemployment rate stuck at 9.5 percent, the Senate has voted 12 times to extend emergency unemployment benefits and allow eligible workers to collect up to 99 weeks of benefits instead of the usual 26 in most states. But a review of senators’ voting record shows support for these extensions among moderates beginning to erode despite the clear need for them and the fact that unemployment benefits are considered one of the better tools for stimulating the economy during a recession.
To provide a clearer picture of how senators have been voting, OpenCongress.org has developed a new online database that shows the voting record on bills or amendments to extend emergency unemployment benefits.
The tool shows voting records for 12 Senate votes that included an extension, and then ranks senators based on their support. The breakdown is unsurprising, with liberal Democrats voting in favor most often and conservative Republicans voting against most often. But in the last year, moderates in both parties have been raising concerns about fiscal responsibility and the impact of the benefits extensions on the nation’s budget deficit.
The concern over the deficit, however, seems to be limited to spending that directly benefits the unemployed or the poor. While insisting on “offsets” – i.e. tax increases or budget cuts — to pay for extended unemployment benefits, a number of senators worried about deficit spending have been supporting tax cuts that benefit the wealthy while significantly increasing the deficit more over time. In fact, Senators Blanche Lincoln. D. Ark., and Ben Nelson, D. Neb., even voted for Senator Jim DeMint’s amendment to permanently repeal the estate tax – which benefits the wealthiest taxpayers exclusively – without mandatory offsets. Notably, DeMint, R. S.C., has voted against all emergency unemployment benefit extensions.
Beyond the need for extending emergency unemployment benefits, civil and human rights groups, including The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, are supporting the Local Jobs for America Act, which would save or create one million public and private jobs in local communities and ensure that local governments can still operate essential services. In a March 11 letter to the House of Representatives, The Leadership Conference said that the bill “will help to alleviate hardships for those most vulnerable, and in so doing, foster economic growth.”