Senate breaks impasse over unemployment benefits
The Senate voted 60-34 today to break a logjam over unemployment benefits. The bill should get final passage soon and be sent to President Barack Obama for his signature. Senate leaders say the benefits will be retroactive to make whole those people who unable to apply for an extension last week. The bill also restores the money cut in payments to physicians who treat Medicare patients. And it extends federal subsidies for people getting COBRA coverage from their former employers.
The vote today was a defeat for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, and other Republicans who wanted the $9.2 billion cost of the bill offset with cuts in other spending.
Four Republican senators voted to advance the bill: Scott Brown, of Mass; Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine; and George Voinovich, of Ohio.
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Comments
now maybe Voinovich can create jobs for those of us in Ohio so we dont need unemployment!! he sure could not do it when he was governor of Ohio
finally someone stepped across the aisle to help those in need..maybe if we cut their goverment health plan the feel diffent about us out he looking for work..
To the insensitive morons including Senator’s blocking approvement, how can you say someone is mooching when they have worked for 20 years without collecting a dime in unemployment while paying into it? Where is all that money paid in by workers over this past century? Is anyone in Congress or Senate taking any pay cuts? Not going on fancy vacations? Worrying about where they will live next month? America start a list of people regardless of what party they are in and let us make them unemployed next term.
Senator Jim Bunning-Republican
Senator Tom Colburn-Republican
Strip Dancer-Sarah Palin
I am glad our Republican Senator in Illinois voted for this bill to be passed. I am well educated and it has never been so long for me to find work. Many people in Chicago are suffering due to the economy. Half the people I know are
out of work had outstanding high paying jobs and have been looking for employment more than a year. Many can not even find a temporary job to wait on tables.
It is about time that Senate has returned from their unneeded recess and work on a continuing issue of funding for the unemployed. As an unemployed worker who was dislocated as of September 25, 2009 and just had their 26 weeks of regular unemployment expire on Sunday as the balance for my U/C account was depleted. I have been searching for a job high and low and due to living in a rural community finding a job is harder than most would even want to imagine. I am a non-degree worker who also been taking classes at a local university to earn a continuing education degree so that I can hope to find another job as most employers would not even consider me without a degree even though I have 9 years of rock solid experience.
I am happy to see that we have 4 decent Republicans who voted to advance this bill. Hopefully it will reach its final passage later this week and be signed by President Barack Obama so that people can feed their families, keep their homes, and for a single adult such as me allow me to stay in school and pay my bills while I continue to search for additional work.