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Without taking any further action on federal unemployment extensions, the House started its summer recess last Friday, and the U.S. Senate is set to leave this Friday.
The House will be in recess until September 10, with the Senate returning 2 days later on September 12.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling the House back from its summer recess next week to vote on a bill that provides $26 billion to help states avoid teacher layoffs and make Medicaid payments. These are the federal funds that State Governors from both parties have said are essential to meeting their state services budgets for fiscal 2011, most of which began on July1.
The Senate unexpectedly broke a Republican filibuster on the funding bill this morning, with a 61-38 vote. The Senate is expected to pass the measure later this week. The House is expected to pass it next week during their special session.
According to the House Historian, the last time that the House was called back into session during the summer recess was September 2005 for a vote on emergency supplemental funds after Hurricane Katrina.
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has posted on her website an outline of the bill she will propose to provide additional federal unemployment benefits for the 99ers -- 20 weeks in a Tier V.
Entitled The Americans Want to Work Act (S.3706), the bill would:
(1) Create an additional tier of benefits for those who have exhausted their unemployment insurance: 20 weeks in a Tier V, available to states with unemployment rates of at least 7.5%; this Tier of benefits would begin on the date the law in enacted, and would not be retroactive to when a person exhausted his/her last UI benefits.
(2) Extend the successful HIRE Act payroll tax exemption through the end of 2011.
(3) Double the general business tax credit to encourage businesses to hire the hardest hit Americans.
The full text of the bill is not yet available, so several details are not yet known, including:
• How Tier V (7.5% trigger) would work with Tier IV (current 8.5% three-month average unemployment rate trigger).
• How the bill would be funded (emergency spending or pay-go).
• If this bill (S.3706) would also include extensions for the eligibility cut-off dates for Tiers I, II, III, and IV past November 30, 2010 -- or whether that would be enacted separately
• What timeline Stabenow is considering for the next steps in passage of the bill.
Great Debbie Stabenow is trying to help the 99'ers.....
This is very significant in terms of being the first piece of legislation proposed that mentions a Tier V -- or any additional benefits for the 99ers. Whether or not this particular bill is passed, Stabenow has at least started a substantive discussion about the issue in Congress.
This is very significant in terms of being the first piece of legislation proposed that mentions a Tier V -- or any additional benefits for the 99ers. Whether or not this particular bill is passed, Stabenow has at least started a substantive discussion about the issue in Congress.
If everyone remembers , Debbie Stabenow was on the floor fighting for us until the very last hour
House Focusing on Subsided Jobs Rather Than More UI Weeks
Quote:
Originally Posted by diorgirl
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has posted on her website an outline of the bill she will propose to provide additional federal unemployment benefits for the 99ers -- 20 weeks in a Tier V.
Entitled The Americans Want to Work Act (S.3706), the bill would:
(1) Create an additional tier of benefits for those who have exhausted their unemployment insurance: 20 weeks in a Tier V, available to states with unemployment rates of at least 7.5%; this Tier of benefits would begin on the date the law in enacted, and would not be retroactive to when a person exhausted his/her last UI benefits.
(2) Extend the successful HIRE Act payroll tax exemption through the end of 2011.
(3) Double the general business tax credit to encourage businesses to hire the hardest hit Americans.
The full text of the bill is not yet available, so several details are not yet known, including:
• How Tier V (7.5% trigger) would work with Tier IV (current 8.5% three-month average unemployment rate trigger).
• How the bill would be funded (emergency spending or pay-go).
• If this bill (S.3706) would also include extensions for the eligibility cut-off dates for Tiers I, II, III, and IV past November 30, 2010 -- or whether that would be enacted separately
• What timeline Stabenow is considering for the next steps in passage of the bill.
In the past, Senate aides have said that -- while numerous Senate Democrats support a Tier V and other programs for the long-term unemployed -- they hesitated to bring forward a bill they felt would never pass. Whether Stabenow will be able to garner enough support for her bill remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Ed Shelleby, spokesperson for Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), advises that the House is instead looking at measures that already have "hugely bipartisan support." Rather than expanding weeks of federal unemployment benefits, the House measures would expand programs like the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund -- which Shelleby explains "was put in place after the recession hit to help states, basically to aid them in subsidizing jobs.”
If everyone remembers , Debbie Stabenow was on the floor fighting for us until the very last hour
Yes, Ed Schultz has used that Stabenow viewpoint towards the 99ers well. Every opportunity he has had to get her on his show and speak on the record about the need for the 99ers he has taken advantage of. Great work on both their parts.
More Than Tier V: Seeking A More Comprehensive Package for 99ers
According to one group -- the Union of Unemployed, nicknamed "UCubed" -- a more comprehensive package is needed for 99ers than simply Senator Debbie Stabenow's Tier V legislation.
UCubed would propose:
• Creating a Tier V unemployment benefit for 99ers [S 3706 - The Americans Want To Work Act].
• Extending COBRA coverage and the 65% subsidy until 2014, when many of the new, state-run health care exchanges would be in place.
• Allowing the jobless to tap their retirement accounts without penalty
• Limiting employers from using credit reports to certain types of jobs [HR 3149 - Equal Employment for All Act, introduced in July 2009].
• Enacting “Buy American” legislation.
• Directing U.S. taxpayer dollars toward benefiting U.S. taxpayers
It will be interesting to see if any of these suggestions make their way into Stabenow's legislation.
According to one group -- the Union of Unemployed, nicknamed "UCubed" -- a more comprehensive package is needed for 99ers than simply Senator Debbie Stabenow's Tier V legislation.
UCubed would propose:
• Creating a Tier V unemployment benefit for 99ers [S 3706 - The Americans Want To Work Act].
• Extending COBRA coverage and the 65% subsidy until 2014, when many of the new, state-run health care exchanges would be in place.
• Allowing the jobless to tap their retirement accounts without penalty
• Limiting employers from using credit reports to certain types of jobs [HR 3149 - Equal Employment for All Act, introduced in July 2009].
• Enacting “Buy American” legislation.
• Directing U.S. taxpayer dollars toward benefiting U.S. taxpayers
It will be interesting to see if any of these suggestions make their way into Stabenow's legislation.
look I understand the 99's need money but the cobra till 2014?? And states money too!! This is getting to be alot dont you think? Just give it to the UE and save some for more UE until the job situation gets better. All the extras included just takes away from the UE in these bills.
A preliminary text of the Stabenow Tier V unemployment benefits bill -- The Americans Want to Work Act (S.3706), -- is available at THOMAS in the Library of Congress: Bill Text - 111th Congress (2009-2010) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)
A. The draft does not yet contain any specific information about the sources of funding -- probably because the Congressional Budget Office has not yet completed scoring the bill. However, the bill refers to itself as a continuation of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, which implies that the funding would be the same -- "emergency spending."
B. There is an explanation for how the proposed Tier V (7.5% trigger) would work with Tier IV (current 8.5% three-month average unemployment rate trigger).
• Under the terms of S.3706, with the addition of Tier V the EUC Tiers would be paid in this sequence: Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, Tier V, and Tier IV -- probably because Tier IV has the highest trigger (8.5%) and provides the least number of weeks (6 weeks).
• In addition, for administrative purposes, the states have the option of changing this sequence and paying Tier IV before Tier V if they wish. I would assume that is to expedite getting benefits to as many people as possible -- this would allow those exhausting Tier III to move routinely to Tier IV, while the states focus on setting up a system for those who have already exhausted all federal benefits to begin Tier V.
C.The draft of the text states that Tier V would be effective on the date it is passed -- and that no retroactive payments will be made for unemployed weeks before that effective date. The text does not include an eligibility cut-off date for Tier V, so it may share the same eligibility dates with the other Tiers -- or a separate date for Tier V may be specified later in the legislative process.
More details should be available when the Senate reconvenes in September.
Whats to stop the "lame ducks" voting for a tier V
after the November elections...after all they're out of office and those who managed to get re-elected have 6 years to soothe any backlash
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House Focusing on Subsided Jobs Rather Than More UI Weeks
