Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Everything is on track for passage this week

They debated the bill and the amendments today and will continue to do so tomorrow. This should pass by the end of the week.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Good new they could vote on the final bill as soon as tomorrow

"The vote was 87-13 to bring the bill to the floor. Sixty votes were needed to pass that procedural hurdle.

The legislation would provide 14 weeks in extra financial aid for everyone exhausting their benefits by the end of the year, and another six weeks for those living in 27 states where the unemployment rate is at least 8.5 percent."



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_unemployment_benefits_2

The bill is on the senate schedule to be debated tomorrow a vote can be called at anytime, debate of the bill is limited to 30 hours max.


We are still on track from last weeks posts, we could see this on Obama's desk and signed into law by the end of the month.

Vote tonighte at 6 for unemployment extension

The Senate will hold 30 minutes of debate on the unemployment extension and Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid will call for a vote at 6 p.m.

Friday, October 23, 2009

No new news Nothong will happen till Tesday

See yesterday's post. I will post an update Monday evening if there is any credible information available, but again Nothing will happen till Tuesday.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Vote for unemployment extension 10-27-09

A Cloture vote has been scheduled for Tuesday the 27th of October, this vote is to limit the amount of time the bill can be debated to 30 hours. They do not have to debate for the duration of the 30 hours they can vote to pass the bill at anytime if all parties agree.

http://democrats.senate.gov/calendar/2009-10.html

We should see a vote in the senate by the middle of next week, If the house of representatives waves the rules, as they did the first time they passed this bill, the house could vote 1 hour after reading the bill. It is very possible that this bill could be on Obama's desk and signed into law by Friday the 30th of October.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

US Reid Files Motion To Extend Long-Term Unemployment Benefits

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed a procedural motion Wednesday night on legislation that would extend federal unemployment benefits to long term unemployed people for up to 20 weeks.

The move by Reid effectively starts a clock which will limit debate on the bill. It still remains unclear whether any attempts to amend the legislation will be allowed. "

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091021-718565.html

Now that Reid has started the process we should see a vote in the senate by the middle of next week, If the house of representatives waves the rules, as they did the first time they passed this bill, the house could vote 1 hour after reading the bill. It is very possible that this bill could be on Obama's desk and signed into law by Friday the 30th of October.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Nothing new but 3548 is on the senate schedule for this week

It appears that information from Saturday was not accurate, it does not look they have agreed to how they are going to fund this bill.

" Republicans are seeking a cost-benefit analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, and the right to bring forward several amendments when the measure comes to the Senate floor.

These amendments are likely to include attempts to offer a way to pay for the unemployment measure so it doesn't continue an expiring tax on employers to pay for it.

But minority lawmakers are seeking votes on other measures that are unrelated to an extension of jobless benefits, such as strengthening a program in which employers use a government-run, Internet-based system to verify potential workers are legal U.S. residents."


http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200910201750dowjonesdjonline000624&title=us-lawmakers-clash-over-cause-of-delay-of-benefits-extension


On a positive note the extension bill(3548) is on the senate schedule for this week.

"The Senate convenes at 2:00 pm today to take a a bill affecting Medicare physician pay (S 1776). The tentative schedule for the remainder of the week includes a bill on Homeland Security spending (HR 2892); Defense authorization (HR 2647); and unemployment insurance (HR 3548)."

http://www.washington.edu/externalaffairs/fedrelations/this-week-on-capitol-hill-october-19-23/

Monday, October 19, 2009

No new news or action today

It appears the hold up is still about the bills funding though i am concerned about another potential stall when some try to attach extending the new home buyers tax credit to the unemployment bill.

"In an interview with the New York Times' Carl Huse today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that his caucus is "getting ready to clear the way" for H.R. 3548, but he offered no exact details about when that might occur. Same goes for Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire), the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, who told the AP that procedural differences will be ironed out soon without providing any specific time line. "


http://progressillinois.com/2009/10/19/durbin-pushes-gop-ui


There is some information some might find educational on opencongress on the s1699 thread page 425 posted by Taylor09 on the bottom half of the page, he talks about how amendments are added to bills in the senate.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Possible agreement on unemployment extension

This is the only new information I found today.

"Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said he believes procedural differences holding up an extension of unemployment benefits will be resolved soon. He said a way to cover an extension without adding to the deficit has been determined, but he offered no specifics."

If the objection to passing this bill was truly do to the funding of the bill, we could see this pass quickly if this news story is accurate.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/washington/6673898.html

Saturday, October 17, 2009

1699

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.