The failure of the unemployment extension bill, which also included additional federal funding for Medicaid and many more important provisions, will not only mean hundreds of thousands of people around the country will go without unemployment benefits; it will also mean hundreds of thousands more people will lose their jobs.
Suzy Khimm at Mother Jones explains:
Known as the “tax-extenders” bill, the legislation would continue unemployment benefits, support certain tax breaks, provide a boost to Medicare payments for doctors, and extend Medicaid funding to collapsing state budgets. Conservatives have raised a predictable hue and cry about increasing the deficit. Democrats, desperate to have the legislation pass, have scaled back the bill over the past weeks “from $190 billion, to $80 billion, to $55 billion, to just over $30 billion,” Arthur Delaney reports…
What’s the price of this political obstructionism? In addition to the millions of Americans who stand to lose unemployment benefits, a huge number of private and public sector employees will lose their jobs due to state budget cuts. Without federal help, states will have to pour in more money to prop up Medicaid, forcing them to make cutbacks in other parts of the budget. As a result, Moody’s chief economist estimates that 200,000 jobs could be axed without federal Medicaid support, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities puts the number as high as 900,000—jobs belonging to teachers, firemen, police, and social workers, among others.
Ezra Klein argues at his Washington Post blog that this is all a strategic choice by the Republicans.
The less that Democrats appear to be doing on jobs — and the fewer jobs that Democrats actually create — the better Republicans will do in November. Substantial compromises on the bill haven’t brought any new votes, and that’s in part because Republicans see no political upside in passing the legislation.
