The goal of this blog is to provided a daily (Monday though Friday) log of the progress of bills in relation to the extension of unemployment benefits. I will do my best to answer questions daily.
As of Friday 10-16 there has been no floor debate scheduled for 1699, the senate companion bill to 3548, 3548 only provides help for states with a TUR at or above 8.5%
Efforts to pass the bill by unanimous consent have so far failed.
The are several proposed amendments for 1699 to allow for extended unemployment benefits for all 50 states, the amendment with the most support and supposedly agreed upon by senate democrats is to provide 14 weeks of federally funded benefits for states with a TUR below 8.5% and 20 weeks for states with unemployment rates at or above 8.5%.
There is disagreement in the senate regarding how the bill should be paid for. Republicans want the money to come from the stimulus bill passed early this year. Democrats are split on whether to fund the bill by extending a $14 per year employee tax paid by employers ,due to expire this year, or by taking the money from TARP. There is strong objection from republicans to use money from TARP and strong opposition from Democrats to use money from the stimulus bill. So far, to the best of my knowledge, only one republican and no democrats in the senate have spoke out against extending the $14 a year tax paid by employers.
2 comments:
While I'm glad to see as many bloggers taking up this issue as possible right now to get Google attention, I have to point out a technicality in your posts. The bill being considered is not actually 1699; S.1699, though it was originally the companion bill to HR 3548, is dead. The bill that came out of the Senate finance committee with the added 14/20 weeks is still the House bill 3548, with the added amendment of the extra weeks.
The only reason I post this is that for anyone trying to track the bill in the Senate records, it would be pretty frustrating to be looking for progress on S. 1699. HR 3548 has been added to the Senate legislative calendar, and Baucus's amendment will be an "amendment as a substitute for the bill."
thank you very much for the correction,
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