Senate passes unemployment benefits extension

Tonight, after waiting 30 hours for a cloture vote, the Senate reauthorized the federal extension of unemployment benefits — moving one step closer to restoring unemployment insurance to 2.6 million American workers. Tomorrow, the bill needs four or five…

Obama slams GOP for putting tax cuts above unemployment extension

In his weekly address, President Obama hammered Republicans for putting the interests of the rich above the unemployed. He said they are making a hypocritical stand on the deficit now, after years of spending, and doing it “on the…

Gridlocked Senate fails again to pass unemployment extension

WASHINGTON– On Wednesday night, a bare-bones measure to keep federally funded unemployment insurance checks headed to the long-term unemployed failed in the Senate. Moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine had signed on to vote for cloture on the $34 billion bill. But without Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who passed away earlier in the week, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) — the majority leader who hails from the state with the worst unemployment rate in the country — once again found himself stuck at 59 votes. By the time Byrd’s replacement is in place, in mid-July, two million Americans will have lost their benefits, and the bill extending them will have languished for some 11 weeks.

Reid searching for one more vote to advance unemployment extension bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is telling reporters today that he has won the votes of two Republicans for his extension of federal unemployment insurance benefits. He says he is one vote away from having 60 senators to vote…

Angle would cut unemployment benefits to motivate jobless

Tea party favorite Sharron Angle, the Nevada GOP’s candidate for Senate, is arguing that the government should cut unemployment benefits to get the jobless back to work. Angle, whose outsider conservative candidacy has been compared to Weld County D.A.…

Stabenow to bring standalone Unemployment extension bill

Today, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) plans to introduce a standalone bill to continue federally extended unemployment insurance benefits. The major federal jobs bill, also known as H.R. 4213, included the unemployment extension along with a number of other…

Jobless benefits extension muddled by lawmaker wrangling

Mike Lillis at the Washington Independent sends the following dispatch from the frontlines in the partisan war to extend benefits to the vast ranks of the unemployed.

“To hear the Democrats tell the tale,” he writes,…