Project:Benefit Wiki - OpenCongress Wiki
Project:Benefit Wiki
From OpenCongress Wiki
Contents |
Latest news on bill progress
Latest news, the week of November 1st:
11/2/09 Monday - Monday night the Senate followed through on the vote for cloture on the bill for HR 3548, setting in motion the next round of procedures to get the bill passed in the Senate and hopefully enacted this week. Donny Shaw of Open Congress has already provided a summary of what has happened and what to expect going forward here: Senate Votes to End Debate on Unemployment Extension Bill - Final Passage Likely on Wednesday
10/31/09 Saturday - Finally! After many jobless Americans gave up for the day on any progress in passage of HR 3548 in the Senate, late Thursday (about 7:45 PM) Senator Reid essentially gave up all hope of an earlier compromise and filed for cloture on the bill AND a few amendments, paving the way for most likely (I hope that's not being too optimistic) vote on the bill by this coming Wednesday (Tuesday very late at the earliest).
For those wanting to see for themselves what happened on the floor, there are three pertinent video segments that can be viewed in CSPAN's library or transcript sections.
1) At this link CSPAN video for Thursday, Oct. 29, at 3:39 PM starts a dialogue at 370.10 on the tape between Senators Reid and McConnell during which Reid becomes exasperated at objections to simple appointments that Reid has apparently been trying to get through the Senate. After this, at 376.01 on the same tape, at 3:45 PM, Sen. Reid makes two attempts at a UC on HR 3548 with first two, then three bipartisan amendments. This fails because Sen. McConnell now insists that they accept yet another amendment regarding the TARP that Reid explains would kill the bill because the House has informed him that they would never accept it. They argue back and forth and at one point McConnell claims their side is being reasonable, and Reid exclaims that "reasonableness is in the eye of the beholder" and then laments the suffering that the unemployed are going through with these continually added amendments. Reid finally expresses his regret that because of all this there could be no vote on the bill that day, mentioning the possibility of a cloture. This ends about 387.50, or 3:57 PM.
2) Then much later in the day, after it seemed hopeless to many, Reid returns at 7:46 PM, at 616.33 on the same tape, when the Senate appears almost empty and McConnell is not there, and presents a seemingly dizzying array of cloture motions, both to the bill and to amendments, and amendments to amendments, wrapping the whole thing up with announcing that the vote for cloture would take place on Monday at 5 PM, preceded by one hour of debate at 4 PM.
(The previous segments can also be viewed with transcripts in the CSPAN Congressional Chronicle at Senate Oct 29 (Click on Oct 29 on calendar and then "Senate" at the top.)
3) Friday morning, Senator Reid, presiding over a "skeleton crew" in the Senate, states again that the cloture vote will be at 5 PM on Monday, and elaborates a bit on the two compromise amendments on the bill (in addition to the Reid-Baucus substitute amendment), which are the revised home buyers tax credit and an amendment for small businesses for loss carryback. "If, in fact, cloture is invoked Monday night, that would be done quickly. The House said they would accept that, and that could be done as early as Tuesday and signed by the President..." This segment can be viewed and read at Senate Oct 30 (Click on Oct 30 on calendar and then "Senate" at the top.)
10/28/09 Wednesday -
After an encouraging moment Tuesday night, when senators voted 87-13 in a cloture vote to bring HR 3548 to the floor for debate (FINALLY!), Wednesday continued with yet more discussion and lack of agreement needed to speed the process up. This was while the restrictions of the "cloture clock" ran out at midnight, giving more options to Sen Reid starting Thursday. One tiny ray of hope reported later in the day was that an agreement was reached about one of the amendments under consideration, one for the home buyer tax credit extension. So Thursday more disagreement? A cloture vote on the bill or any amendment may be needed to force the bill to move forward again.
10/24/09 Saturday. -
After much behind-the-scenes political wrangling, loads of confusion among those waiting to find out what's been happening with this bill, maximum frustration on the part of all parties involved, Senator Reid essentially became convinced Wednesday evening at 7:49 PM EST that he would have to give up on his attempts to speed up passage of the bill by a legislative process known as "unanimous consent," which can limit time for debate and amendments and other time-consuming procedures. At that time he made a motion to proceed on the bill in "regular" fashion, a more time-consuming path, but since so much time had gone by already in attempts at UC, it was really his only option.
At that time he also made a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed, a process of "closing" debate on any motion. This week on the S. 1699 and HR 3548 forums there was heated debate (to put it mildly) about all the minute details of Senate rules and what those meant to the timing of passage on this bill. (The bill in question is HR 3548, but most posters have gravitated to the more populated S. 1699 forum that started revving up earlier on.)
Readers can slog through all this if they have insomnia, but in essence where we are at right now is a point of progress in getting this bill passed, even though there is no absolutely clear indication of how long it will take. After Wednesday night's motion for cloture, Senator Durbin and Reid apparently gathered enough certainty to announce that a cloture VOTE would take place on Tuesday, the 27th (so senators all need to show up on that day!)
A resident "parliamentarian" has emerged on the S. 1699 forum, Taylor09, who is studying to eventually become a lawyer, and she has had the patience to slog through reams of Senate rules to help everyone understand the little nuances of Senate procedures. I'll take some liberty to quote one of her posts about this new event:
"Tuesday's vote to invoke cloture is on the Motion to Proceed only. (please understand this). It is a procedural step to get the bill to the floor. If they can reach an agreement (on time of debate and number of amendments), prior to the vote to invoke cloture, then there is no need for cloture. If they cannot reach an agreement, cloture will be invoked and within 30 hours the bill MUST be released to the floor."
All the brouhaha about getting this bill to the floor and the Republican refusal to accept Reid's attempts at unanimous consent has to do with amendments that senators want to attach to this bill, which they know will pass, and therefore want to add all manner of kitchen sink amendments to it. (And since it is getting close to the end of term and health care legislation will probably take up a lot of floor time after this bill, they may see it as their only chance to tack on legislation this year.) Mainly Republicans, but also some Democrats have offered amendments. The Dems are accusing the Republicans of blocking the bill, which they did, and of offering unrelated amendments, which they did. On the other hand, the Dems are offering some amendments also (not as many) and they caused the initial delay by wrangling over the eligibility for all states (admittedly a necessary addition), while Reid's delay in using many UC attempts to bring this to the floor resulted in even further delay, as FrankDiscussion pointed out:
"The wait is frustrating and Reid made a serious tactical error in continuing to try to get unanimous consent. Once he knew the republicans' intentions two weeks ago, he should have acted immediately to bring it out like he just did. What he hoped would be a way of speeding the process up (UC) ended up slowing it down big time."
(Anybody else think this is starting to sound like a game of basketball or football, complete with Monday morning quarterbacking on the competing strategies? Political loyalties of the board posters run deep, but with the majority of posters disgusted with both parties at this point.)
Bottom line: This coming Tuesday unless Reid succeeds in a belated behind-the-scenes agreement for one more UC attempt, this bill moves to the floor and first will come a cloture vote on the motion to proceed, which will probably result in it proceeding to debate, then amendments will be offered. Those amendments will be discussed and voted on, possibly with more cloture limitations on number and time to debate. All these movements and the eventual bill in this "regular" process take it back to the House, where it is expected to very speedily be dealt with, provided any new amendments are completely out in left field, and then signed by the President immediately afterwards. No one knows the exact length of time, but there seems to be some consensus that this coming week there will be a major effort to get this bill and a few other bills OVER with this week and maybe into the next week. Two weeks estimate. (Don't sue me if it takes longer!)
Then we all have to worry about how long the states will take to implement it all. Hopefully since it is EUC, not EB, it will be simpler.There is still lingering confusion about what is actually in this bill, and since amendments may be added, we can't say for sure, but the core of the bill will probably remain the same as for benefits. This bill is NOT retroactive, will be paid out only for weeks following date of passage, and applies to all those who have exhausted or will soon exhaust either EB or EUC in their states. For more, please see the lengthy posts in these forums, or you can find summaries here in previous news updates.
--nancym
SUMMARY: This was posted by NoGoodOnesLeft (NGOL) recently. It's a good shorthand version of what to expect if this amendment SA2668 and bill HR3548 pass as now written:
NEW TIERS OF EUC:
Tier 2 - 14 weeks for everyone.
Tier 3 - 13 weeks for at or over 6.5% 3 month average.
Tier 4 - 6 weeks for at or over 8.5% 3 month average.
They added Limitation rules so if your state already got Tier 2 - you will get the one extra week from the new Tier 2 and then will trigger on to Tier 3 for 13 weeks and if your state is at or over 8.5% average, then trigger on to Tier 4 for 6 more weeks.
If your state hasn't got the old Tier 2 of 13 weeks yet - you will get the 14 weeks and if your state goes to or over 6.5% average you will trigger on to Tier 3 for 13 more weeks and then if your state goes to or over 8.5% average trigger on to Tier 4 for 6 more weeks.
Bottom line for individuals who have exhausted their benefits in a state under 8.5%: 14 weeks
Bottom line for individuals who have exhausted their benefits in a state over 8.5%: 14 weeks + 6 weeks
Select a state to see information for your area
  |
|
Citizen actions
- Call, email, fax, twitter, mail all governors, Senators and the President.
- Contacting members of Congress:
- E-mail form from NELP
- White House Contact Info
- Write letters to local newspaper regarding the need for unemployment support. (One resource to use for creating letters online that can be sent to newspapers and periodicals is Publishaletter.com.)
- Possible ideas if Senators and the President refuses to listen to us such as one term limit, etc.
- SIGN PETITION: Asking Congress to please act now to extend benefits!!!!!! http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/NeedExtendedBenefits/
Survival links (please see individual states for local info)
[Note: This list of support links was started by Hope in Cali in an OC article titled "Help for the Unemployed till they pass the Bill." It has since been expanded here on the Benefit Wiki to reach more people and be accessible to all forums through the main Wiki link.]
General support for the unemployed
(Some organizations may be out of funds, or awaiting funds.)
- Salvation Army
- Goodwill.org
- Google These Suggestions:
- "Faith based stimulus package"
- "Community Action"
- Angel Food Ministries
- Charities and organizations that can help with paying bills.
- www.safelink.com Get a phone for free if you qualify.
- Worried about your electricity being cut off? Check what protections you might have in the LIHEAP Clearinghouse, a state-by-state guide to disconnection policies: liheap.ncat.org/Disconnect/disconnect.htm
- Help Until The Unemployment Extension Passes A collection of links and news items to help the unemployed who have run out of resources.
- Credit problems or getting hassled? Check out these forums:
- Think it's hard enough finding work, and then you've got to step through the mine field of scam ads on top of that? Check out these forums:
Housing and rental information
- Check in your individual states if you're a renter (or will soon be!) for the "Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing" program. These ARRA funds are apparently just now (September) trickling out to the states and may be used up pretty quickly. Looks like only the hardest hit counties, in Florida for example[1], are giving out the rent money, but it's $300 million going out nationwide. [2]
- Tenants Together
- For the more radical, but somewhat more risky approach, check out Take Back the Land
General Benefits Info
OpenCongress resources
External resources
- Federal information on unemployment insurance
- Emergency Unemployment Compensation program
- State unemployment offices
- Trigger Reports for EUC and TUR
Here's what you can find on Benefit Wiki
- Information on regular unemployment benefits on a state-by-state basis
- Information on other available benefits and programs to help the unemployed get through this recession
- Tier 1 and Tier 2 Emergency Unemployment
- Updates on the latest legislation in Congress to extend or expand unemployment benefits
Find out how to participate or contact us at the Benefit Wiki community portal.
About/contact
The power of the fully sourced and operational wiki project comes from the citizens across the country researching, writing and fact-checking the information here. It is free, open-source, transparent in its editing standards and sourcing, and non-partisan. All information on Benefit Wiki is required to be referenced to an outside news source, and no partisan information is included.
The Benefit Wiki is coordinated by the OpenCongress team. We encourage you to make any additions or corrections via the "Edit" tab at the top of every project page (you'll need to log-in to edit; see the "Join OpenCongress" link in the top right to register for free).
For questions more generally about the Benefit Wiki or about starting your own project on OpenCongress, please contact the OpenCongress team at writeus@OpenCongress.org.
Discover other community projects (or how to start your own!) at the main OpenCongress wiki community portal.
More background and individual contact information can be found on the Benefit Wiki community portal.
