Now everyone is a budget hawk. The American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 just went down in the Senate by a 45-52 vote, with Democratic Sens. Bayh, Begich, Feingold, Kohl, Landrieu, Lieberman, McCaskill, Menendez, both Nelsons, Pryor, and Webb voting ‘no.’ Blanche Lincoln didn’t vote.
The “tax extenders” bill would reauthorize extended unemployment benefits put in place by the stimulus bill to fight the recession. In some states, laid-off workers were eligible for 99 weeks of benefits — that is until Congress allowed the programs to lapse on June 1. Among other provisions, including family and business tax breaks, the bill would also stave off a 21 percent payment reduction for doctors who see Medicare patients and it would restore elevated federal funding for state Medicaid programs.
By the end of this week, 903,000 long-term unemployed who otherwise would have received benefits will have missed checks. By the end of next week that number will reach 1.2 million.
Both chambers of Congress already approved measures to extend these programs at least through the rest of the year, but the House and Senate used different sources of funding. When it came time to reconcile the bills, conservative House Democrats lost their appetite for adding to the deficit to help the economy. The same thing is now happening in the Senate.
This is sure to increase consumer demand and lead to economic growth. It will do wonders for the foreclosure crisis.
Democrats scrapped a post-vote press conference moments before it was scheduled to start.
Has Dick Durbin forgotten how to count votes? Back to the drawing board.
