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What's Been Happening With the Unemployment Extension Bill?
July 15, 2010 - by Donny Shaw
UPDATE: New info on what’s happening Tuesday — click here to see the update.
With all the work that’s been going on in the Senate this week on financial reform, the small business lending bill and other things, it may seem like the Democrats are doing nothing on the unemployment insurance bill while they wait for an interim senator from West Virginia to be announced. But that’s not the case. On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Senate Dems executed two important procedural actions that will ensure that when the new senator is seated and they can take up the bill, they can take the quickest route possible under Senate rules to get it passed.
Here’s what those actions look like in the Congressional Record — From Tuesday:
And from Wednesday:
So, why is Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D, RI] calling asking for a second reading of the unemployment extension bill and objecting to his own request in the same sentence, and why is Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] objecting to any further proceedings with the bill?
The answer, of course, is that they are using Senate Rule XIV to skip the committee process and put the bill directly on the Senate calendar for floor consideration. Paragraph 4 of that rule states that "every bill and joint resolution introduced on leave, and every bill and joint resolution of the House of Representatives which shall have received a first and second reading without being referred to a committee, shall, if objection be made to further proceeding thereon, be placed on the Calendar.” So, Senator Whitehouse first objected to having the second reading occur on the same day as the first in order to avoid automatic committee referral under Paragraph 3 of the rule, and then Reid objected to further proceeding of the bill because, under Paragraph 4, the next motion in order after the second reading would have been referring the bill to committee. The acting Senate President followed suit and placed the bill on the calendar for consideration under the requirements of Rule XIV.
As you know, under regular order, bills must be approved by a committee before they can be considered on the floor. The Senate could have followed regular order and brought up one of their own unemployment insurance bills that has been cleared by committee. H.R. 4213, for example, was cleared by the Senate Finance Committee on March 1st. But that bill is different than the one that was passed by the House on July 1st (H.R. 5618), so it would have to be reconciled with the House-passed bill before it could be signed into law. The reconciled version would also have to go back for an extra vote in both the Senate and House to make sure that both chambers did, in fact, pass the same exact version of the bill.
In order to avoid those extra steps, Senate Dems are moving forward with the bill passed by the House on July 1st. But there is a trade-off here — H.R. 5618 does not include the extra $25 per week from the Federal Additional Compensation program (FAC) that was initiated in the 2009 stimulus bill. That program would be terminated under the bill passed by the House on July 1st, but it would be extended under H.R.4213. In other words, Senate Dems have chosen to sacrifice the extra $25 per week in order to get this bill done and signed into law a few days — or even a week or more — sooner.
As you can see on the Senate Democrats calendar, the new West Virginia senator is now scheduled to be sworn in at 2:15 p.m. E.T. on Tuesday, and then immediately after, at 2:30, they will begin voting on the unemployment extension bill. That vote will be on a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. Once that passes, a cloture motion on the bill itself will be in order for Thursday morning. After that the bill has to be voted on within 30 hours, so, by Friday afternoon, though it is common for the minority party to allow the vote on the bill to take place immediately after the vote on cloture (for example, that’s what happened today on financial reform conference report). For more detailed info on these procedural steps, see this blog post.
Bottom line: once the interim WV senator is sworn in, and barring any surprising last-minute defections, the Democrats will have the 60 votes they need to break any Republican attempt to stop the bill from passing, and they will be able to do it by the end of the week.
P.S. — since I know folks will be asking: no, the bill will not create additional weeks of benefits beyond the tiers that Congress let expire on June 2. Ninety-nine weeks will still be the maximum benefits period available. That means that after November 30, when this bill is set to sunset, anyone receiving benefits will no longer be eligible to move into the next tier after their current tier expires.
P.P.S. The bill will pay back benefits retroactively for however long you have been without your cheques due to congressional inaction.
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Comments
Displaying 1-30 of 98 total comments.
I really don’t care about the extra $25 as long as I get the rest. It will help pay the bills at least and not let people go without food or be homeless. Keep us up to date Mr.Shaw and Thank you
Dear Donny- I too am grateful for your coverage on such an important matter for so many right now. I have wrote to ALL of my local TV stations condeming their neglect of any coverage. I watched all the network and local news programs here in Denver and not one word was mentioned about this subject for days on end.
We have truly been ignored and one has to ask why. Although this move FINALLY making it to this point sounds like good news, I have heard many things and promices made by both parties that were basicly lies and this bill simply stayed in limbo. I aint holding my breath until I see the check in my hand.
And lets not forget to say a prayer for those who already lost their houses or cars while the senators took a July 4th, 4000.00 paid vacation on our tax money.
I say lets not forget because that is what we as a society tend to do once these types of situations are behind us- Remember why we invaded the East-
Anybody seen Bin Lately-
Peace~
James
Mr Shaw, Thank you for the heads up, it sounds good and everything is in place. i just got ahold of my senator in Mo and told her not to drop the ball and put pressure on senator Nelson from Nebraska democrat who voted against the bill last time, I was told he had so many emails and threats of voting him out in his next election that it will take years to read all the emails sent to him, way to go people keep up the good work! We are being heard
Donny, Thank you for keeping us posted on the UI bill. Amongst all the different stories being told on this subject – it’s hard to know the truth from a lie. That’s why I feel confident coming to OpenCongress – I know I can come here for honest, straightforward answers. Your effort is greatly appreciated!
rear end out the door but luckily they paid all medical bills for surgery therapy and meds as well as workmans comp pay until November of last year. I have lost my marriage, my truck and now am going to have to file bankruptcy because I chose put food on the table clothes for my kids and utilities. Yes my financial life is ruined for at least the next 10 years but as long as I have my health I can replace everything else. Suicide seems like a good option for some but please its not the answer, there are people in your life that love and care about you. Taking to violence is not the answer either. The Founding Fathers took to arms and violence in order to liberate and create the United States so that future generations would not have to. Our minds computers and pens are the weapons to use. God bless us all.
Not to burst your bubble BUT we got screwed by all if you live in New York State and the reason they are taking so long to pass the bill is not because of the need of 60 votes although that was there ploy. It was because they were waiting for the new numbers to come out. For a person to get Tier 4 in New York State the Unemployment Rate has to be 8.5 as of today if you view the following link you will see the rate in NY at of 07/15/2010 is 8.3 www.labor.ny.gov/stats/laus.asp That means that if you are needing a tier 4 there will not be one. The whole senate knew this that is why they have waited. Screwed over I guess the car I have been paying for to look for a job can now be taken by the bank. Homeless
The extra $25 may not seem like much, but it is all relative. $25 means alot whole lot more to people that are already without money to pay for food, gas and medical expenses. The government wastes tons of money to corporate America and pork bellies that are ridiculous, so why are we (the strapped unemployed) the ones who are suffering, asked to give up this “minor $25”! Why don’t the government officials who take lavish trips, measls, (Free lifetime medical benefits) on the taxpayers tab asked to give up some of their income!
One more thing that REALLY pisses me off about all of this is seeing the calendars and knowing that the Senate is off today through the weekend!!! Why is it that the House always seems to find time to WORK AND PASS BILLS even if they have to spend more time at it? Senators are greatly overpaid for all of the time that they DO NOT WORK!!!!!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, IF THEY EXPECT TO GET PAID THEY SHOULD WORK LIKE THE REST OF US WOULD LIKE TO BE WORKING!!!!!!!1
something has got to give soon! Why can’t these lawmakers who claim to care about us and our country take one for the team? Give up their weekends and work for us, maybe we need to vote people in that are willing to work on a voluntary basis! Or how about we give them idiots the same salaries as our teachers or nurses? Or better yet, pay them what our service men make in a year, give them the same benefits. See how humbling that would be! I for one, have no idea who to vote for this year, they all make me sick. I have no fiath at all in our government looking out for us.
It’s time to get on the side of the good Senators and tell them we appreciate what they are doing. As Mr. Shaw points out, it’s a procedural matter now, not politics as usual. Following rules of order is a good thing and one we should all be thankful for. Now, if only they wouldn’t lock me out of my house and take my car…
Remember 2010 is an election year, we hope. But having said that please when you are remembering what Congress did regarding unemployment, especially Senator Ben Nelson,please also consider this: The U.S. House & Senate have voted themselves $4,700 and $5,300 raises respectively!!! I ask myself for which vacation of the previous five while we waited and lost our homes, cars, utilities,etc…while they made up their minds to finally extend unemployment did they earn these pay raises for? I answer myself with not the vacations but in order to pay for their November PINK SLIPS even if there is an October Surprise in the making!!! Please remember please don’t forget….
Maybe this will convince Reid that the bill needs to be passed this weekend, not on Tuesday. Just a little “shake up” call.
I agree!!! Did they not just have 2 fkn weeks off and just got back now off again for the dam weekend? WTF get rid of these lazy Fat a*** and put ppl in there that really want to earn that money they get , im sure we can put ppl in senate that will work harder than those there now for Less that would help the budget!
To msglitzer… I am in Alabama and was told basically the same thing from our unemployment office. Tier 1 ended before I got to it. I have applied for it I guess. And now they say that if and when it passes I have to wait on paper work in the mail and reapply? So between waiting for it to pass, and then waiting for paper work and waiting for that to go through, your looking at another month total with no help. And if I do get lucky and find a job in the meantime, how can I buy gas to get to that job? Why after all of this waiting to we have to still jump through hoops and red tape when they already know because we are already in the system.
Thanks, Mr. Shaw for the updates. How long after it passes will the President gets to signing it?
After all we have been through, I am still very cautious in my optimism.
There are no long range plans in the works once this expires. As we see it will expire after the elections.
This is a very good point. It’s as if legislators think the employment situation will magically improve by November 30th. Oh, wait, they know it’s not going to improve. They’re more concerned about being re-elected, so it seems, than they are about seriously helping those of us who are unemployed.
Just a thought… We should all gather up all the information needed for the November Election, we must stop all that has voted against the Unemployment, we will need to find out who’s up for election coming this November and do what we do best, speak our minds, maybe some of us can find jobs Campaigning against them, the American people will listen to our stories and feel the pain that we all endured. Each of us are from different states we can set up right in dc and get this Campaign going. Please share your thoughts and ideas to make this happen.We have the power, please let’s use it. Thank you all for all the support you have showed for each other.
MIKES1LAKERFAN>>> exactly!! As much as I want this extension… it is only good till Nov 2010 and then what?? PLUS they took away our $25 a week stimulus. I don’t understand why that isn’t making a difference to everyone. That is $100 bucks that puts food on the table for me. This extension is a band aid and isn’t anything like we need.
>> I was told he had so many emails and threats of voting him out in his next election that it will take years to read all the emails sent to him, way to go people keep up the good work! We are being heard>>
This is moving to me to see people taking action at the grass roots level. I personally would be amazed if Nelson changes his vote. Perhaps after all there is more influencing todays American politics than lobbyists and corporate greed. Sometimes many of us feel as if the upper 2% has taken our country hostage and rules Congress.
I hope it is enough to get this bill passed, we all find work and that our shattered economy goes back to work for all Americans- not just banks and the rich and connected. We all know that is the sort of America of opportunity our image & our Statue of Liberty stands for around the world.
Well I am glad that some thing is getting done but what about the people that have been laid off since this started, the one’s that have used up all of there unemployment, the 99ers? Even that is was not 99 weeks because thay use your first 26 weeks of reg. unemployment to make it 99 weeks. I live in Ohio and we had 4 tiers of exstended unimployment that came to 53 weeks, so where does the 99 weeks come from? I am a union laborer for 19.5 years and have always worked good and my own hall has lost over 800 laborers in the past 2 years because there is no work for us. I have tryed to get another job since this all started even in other states and over sea’s, I have sent out over 400 resumes and to this day still can’t get a job. I am a skilled worker and I have companies telling me that I am over quilified for the work I am seeking, so what happens to the people that can’t get a job in what thay have done for so many years?
Well I’ve been where a lot of people are, and contimplating ending it all. I thought my son would be better off without me but my friends shed light in one of my darkest hours to kept me from giving up and taking the easy way out. Our backs are against the wall, now its time we all come together for each other and light our darkest hours. We can survive this.
Very smart observation.
Thanks, Danny for keeping us informed. It has been nice to know that there is one person who is looking out for us. The news is good even without the $25, which I am sure all of us need, but we need the bill passed asap so if we have to give up something at least we will hopefully have money in hand within the next couple of weeks. I, from experience am not holding my breath, but praying for an end to all of this. Again, your information has been invaluable and we all appreciate your caring enough to help us with answers in our time of need.
I hope people don’t forget come November. They put this off as far as they could thinking it would secure their positions as Senators I just hope people REMEMBER!!! I for one will remember!!! I may have my water shut off and electricity by the time they actually get this done. It seems like it’s just a few days but my water is scheduled to be shut off on the 21st. No one has any money to help with utilities. I WILL REMEMBER!!! I am grateful they finally got moving on this it will be better than not but this has brought so much heartache on my family. Just a job it doesn’t even have to pay a huge salary just enough to cover the basics but I am sure the Senate’s weekend is more important than whether or not I have water and electricity!!!!
EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN READING THIS BLOG TO KEEP YOURSELF UPDATED PLEASE READ THIS POST!!!! PLEASE DO NOT FORGET WHAT MR. SHAW HAS DONE FOR US AFTER YOU GET YOUR BENEFITS!!! I’M NOT SAYING DONATE YOUR CHECK, BUT I AM SURE THAT THIS SITE DOES NOT RUN ON AIR. SO, EVEN IF IT’S JUST A DOLLAR PER PERSON, WE SHOULD ALL GIVE SOMETHING. NONE OF US WOULD WORK FOR FREE!!!! (WIDGETS’S WORDS, NOT DONNY’S)WE WOULD ALL LIKE THIS WONDERFUL SERVICE TO CONTINUE AND IT APPEARS TO BE VERY TIME CONSUMING.
Thank you Donny for all the hard work that you are putting into this! My hat’s off to you. I will be glad once this gets passed although I started a part time job that I’ll be lucky to 20 hours a week but it’s a start and I will make it work so that I can complete school with luck in the next year and a half. Yeah the extra $25 a week was nice but I can go without it in order to get the bill through. I have always voted republican but I now consider myself more of an independant. Again thank you Donny for your efforts on keeping up with this issue. To all my fellow unemployed Americans out there. It’s tough to do it but keep your heads up things will improve. I know that I have a similar story to everyone else I lost my job of 10 years in July of 08, it took until June last year to find another job. July last year I blew my knee out and lost the job because I was still in my 90 day probation. Their union contract said that they didn’t have to keep me so I got the foot in the
DONNY…. gotta say Thank You. This site has given me and others a place to learn and keep in contact and I for one really appreciate your reports and information.
No I meant RepubliCON’s! Hey the Democrats need to get their$h!T together
I’ll admit that, but in general they are not doing what they do for
corporate interest. The Democrats needed to push through a lot more from
the start of Obama’s term. They screwed around so much with health care
they did not get enough done. They still have $400 Billion left in the
kitty for Economic Stimulus and yet they refuse to do anything now that
would allow business a hand at getting started and create the jobs needed.
The RepubliCON’s want to push to make the temporary Bush tax cut’s
permanent, even though it will add 4.4 Trillion to the national debt. When
it comes to the unemployed however they are upset over 30 billion in short
term deficit spending, so you can see they don’t care about us!
Art LeDoux
Screwed is right. It’s the same here in Texas. We’re at 8.3% too and so we can’t get that tier 4 either. I’ve just came out of Tier 1 but we’re on our whopping $68/month of food stamps to feed our family of four. I’ve got 10 agencies helping me look for a job right now. I’m working a couple days a week at my church and friends have bought us groceries but I’ve never felt more desperate in my life. I have days where I feel like God is going to take care of us and I have days where I think about our callous congressmen and get so depressed and feel so hopeless. How can they dismiss that while we are on unemployment, supposedly taking advantage of it, that the lay offs are continuing? I was making $21/hr in Project Mgmt. for 10 yrs. and now I’m down to nothing, maybe have to settle for $8/hr. Companies are still downsizing!