Senate Vote

[AMC23]

Just got 60 votes!

[Unemployed In Orlando]

Legislation to restore unemployment benefits to millions who have been out of work for more than six months broke free of Senate Republican delaying tactics on Tuesday.

More below :

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unemployment-benefits-apf-1521010382.html?x=0

[geegejoe]

Now that this extension has finally made it through, is there any hope for those who have exhausted all the tiers and EB?

[sc4ram]

If I recall correctly, Speaker Pelosi said a while back that nothing will happen with the 99ers until November (at best)

[AMC23]

Legislation to restore unemployment benefits to millions who have been out of work for more than six months broke free of Senate Republican delaying tactics on Tuesday.

More below :

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unemployment-benefits-apf-1521010382.html?x=0

It is very unfortunate that the republicans have chose to debate this for 30 hours before the final majority vote. These guys amaze me.

[sc4ram]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/99ers-left-benefits-extension-11203881?&clipId=11203881&playlistId=11203881&cid=siteplayer

[hart2heart2009]

I just saw on WINK news that even though the extension has been passed, Florida will not see any of this money until September unless a special session is called. What exactly does this mean? I am on Tier I and it is should end the last week of August.

[nancym]

I just saw on WINK news that even though the extension has been passed, Florida will not see any of this money until September unless a special session is called. What exactly does this mean? I am on Tier I and it is should end the last week of August.

No, forget about that. There has been confusion about what is going on, or was going on, in the Florida special session, an attempt to get our Republican-controlled legislature to accept the renewed funding for the EB program. That is a totally separate issue from what Congress voted in with HR 4213; that's the EUC program that affects most people, the Tiers. Funds from HR 4213 will be available to those still on the Tiers as soon as Obama signs it and then some kind of technical wait period while AWI cranks up its computers to get all those backed up claims sorted out.

[sc4ram]

i dont have a source for this yet:

ont have The Americans Want to Work Act (S.3706)

This bill (sponsored by Senator’s Stabenow, Schumer, and Reid, among others) will be brought to the floor in September:

The Americans Want to Work Act provides jobs and security for the hardest hit Americans. Currently, over 14.6 million Americans are out of work, a national crisis. During this unprecedented time, we must incentivize business to create jobs and provide a bridge until job seekers can find work. The Americans Want to Work Act does both by:

Creating an additional tier of benefits for those who have exhausted their unemployment insurance;
Extending the successful HIRE Act payroll tax exemption through the end of 2011;

Doubling the general business tax credit to encourage businesses to hire the hardest hit Americans.

Tier 5 – Unemployment Insurance

What it Does: Provides 20 weeks of additional unemployment insurance for states with 7.5% or higher unemployment. This tier will benefit the people who have exhausted all of their benefits.

Retroactive Eligibility: Would apply retroactively to everyone who has exhausted all of their previous tiers in recent months. However, benefits would not be paid retroactively. (Example – If you exhausted your benefits 3 months ago, you would be eligible to begin your Tier 5 at the date of enactment. You would not, however, be paid out for the 3 months in which you did not receive benefits. If you are going to exhaust your benefits in 2 weeks, you will move right onto Tier 5 and receive your 20 weeks).

Requirements: People who are unemployed still need to meet current UI law requirements such as job searches.

One Year Extension of the HIRE Act Payroll Tax Exemption & Incentives for Businesses to Hire the Hardest Hit Americans

HIRE Act Background: The HIRE Act, signed into law earlier this year, provides two new tax incentives for employers to hire unemployed workers. Under the HIRE Act, businesses that hire Americans who have been out of work for at least 60 days are exempt from paying their 6.2 percent share of Social Security payroll taxes for all new hires up to the FICA wage cap of $106,800. To promote long-term employment, the HIRE Act also provides an additional $1,000 general business tax credit for each worker retained for at least one year.

Americans Want to Work Act Provisions: The bill includes two key provisions that apply to all states:

Extends the successful HIRE Act Payroll Tax Exemption for one year, through the end of 2011.

Doubles the general business tax credit, from $1,000 to $2,000, for businesses that hire (and retain for 52 weeks) someone who has exhausted all unemployment benefits. This is applicable to anyone who has exhausted all unemployment benefits or that is eligible for Tier 5. This would be effective at the date of enactment.

Evidence the HIRE Act Payroll Tax Exemption is Working: Recent reports from the Treasury Department show that from February to June of 2010, businesses hired approximately 5.6 million new workers who had been unemployed for eight weeks or more. Businesses
have already received potential tax savings of $10.4 billion ($6.2 billion in payroll tax reductions, $4.2 billion in tax credits) from the HIRE Act Payroll Tax Exemption.

[sc4ram]

http://www.examiner.com/x-27052-Rochester-Unemployment-Examiner~y2010m8d4-Ed-Schultz-Stabenow-to-introduce-99er-legislation-that-will-add-20-weeks-of-Tier-5-UI-benefits?cid=examiner-email

[Jeff]

That's great news for exhaustees! (The Republicans are gonna have a cow though.) I think they'll have to lower the 7.5% cutoff because as it now stands 16 States are below that level and their Reps are unlikely to support it IMO.

[nancym]

That's great news for exhaustees! (The Republicans are gonna have a cow though.) I think they'll have to lower the 7.5% cutoff because as it now stands 16 States are below that level and their Reps are unlikely to support it IMO.

I was thinking the same thing today. I hope everyone also heard the news that Pelosi is calling the House members back into session from their summer snooze time for a special session. I haven't been following this as closely as usual since I've been taking final exams and projects for school, but my understanding is that the call-back is not specifically for this 99er bill, but rather for the aid to the states and some other things that the Senate finally worked out just recently.

But then some are now calling to plead for them to pass this new benefits bill as well. I don't even know if that's possible, since it was just submitted to the Senate Finance Committee today (yesterday?) by Sen Stabenow from Michigan. But whether it might by some miracle be possible to have it jump so quickly to the House for approval or else have to wait til they all come back in September, this is definitely the time for people to focus on that particular bill:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s3706/show

Note the co-sponsors and I personally think we have a lot of thanks to give to Ed Schultz (The Ed Schultz Show on MSNBC) for his hammering on the hardships of the 99ers specifically and repeatedly for the last month or so. Maybe some credit as well to that recent New York Times article, and what may be a "tipping point" as I like to call it, for awareness of what happens to all those who can't find jobs yet lose benefits.

[nancym]

Targeted petition for S.3706 at change.org:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/the_americans_want_to_work_act_s3706

Please sign!

[Jeff]

Signed it. Thanks Nancym

[sc4ram]

From the Examiner

House Tier 5 legislation

Representatives Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Jim McDermott (D-WA) yesterday unveiled legislation that could add up to 20 weeks of Tier 5 unemployment benefits in states with an unemployment rate of 10% or greater. From Rep. Berkley’ site:
"Tier Five" Legislation Would Aid Americans Who Reach 99 Week Max in States with Elevated Unemployment Rates
Berkley's legislation, The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, would create an additional tier of benefits for those who have exhausted their unemployment insurance. The bill would provide 20 weeks of additional unemployment insurance for Nevada and other states with an unemployment rate of 10% or higher. This tier will benefit individuals who have already exhausted all of their benefits, as well as those who are finding themselves near the end of their final tier without the prospect of employment.

"My legislation targets Nevada and others states where unemployment remains above 10 percent and would provide an additional 20 weeks of benefits for those who have reached the 99 week maximum. Providing this assistance will provide a bridge for those living in Las Vegas and other communities where the economy has yet to recover and jobs are as scarce as raindrops in the Nevada desert. These are not spoiled Americans; these are men and women who want to work, and I reject those who would question help for a parent so they can put food in the belly of a hungry child or to keep a worker who lost a job from also losing a home."
The legislation will be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, on which Berkley serves as a member. The bill's cosponsors include Reps. McDermott (WA), Frank (MA), Lewis (GA), Schakowsky (IL) Richardson (CA), Hare (IL), Watson (CA), Cheeks Kilpatrick (MI), Kildee (MI), Doyle (PA), Linda Sanchez (CA), and Filner (CA).
You can also review a statement about the Tier 5 legislatiion at Rep. McDermott’s site: Rep. McDermott Co-sponsors Legislation to Provide Tier 5 of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Benefits
As many of you are aware, Senator Stabenow (D-MI) introduced the Americans Want to Work Act that would offer 20 weeks of Tier 5 benefits to unemployed in states with 7.5% unemployment or greater.
In the Senate bill, 34 states would currently be included for Tier 5 benefits, but in the further watered-down House proposal, only 16 states and Washington D.C. would qualify. From Annie Lowrey of the Washington Independent:
House Democrats Put Forward Tier V Legislation, Extending Unemployment Benefits for 99ers
Senate Democrats put forward similar legislation. Reps. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) cosponsored the legislation creating a fifth tier of benefits, extending the maximum number of weeks of federal and state benefits to 119 in states with unemployment rates over 10 percent. Currently, sixteen states and the District of Columbia would qualify.
LaDona King, San Diego Unemployment Examiner, was not impressed with the proposal that offers no assistance to 99ers in 34 states:
The new Berkely/McDermott bill for the 99ers - does not pass the laugh test
Instead of helping the 99er Nation, by introducing this idiotic piece of trash legislation, you may well cost all 99ers more valuable time. Time we do not have. What part of unemployment being a national emergency do you not understand?
Let's say that the Senate passes the Stabenow bill, then sends it to the House. Will the House waste more precious weeks of 99er time trying to reconcile your lame bill with S 3706? No thank you. We saw that on March 10, 2010, HR 4213 passed the Senate. The House did not act with any sense of urgency with their attempts to reconcile that bill with their own, waiting until the end of May to pass their version. This is not the time to squander more lives of 99er families by wasting more time.
The House proposed The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act does not provide for millions of 99ers – unemployment benefit exhaustees – in states with unemployment rates below 10%. It’s an inadequate bill that needs to be adjusted for all 99ers and not just a few. Why didn’t they introduce a bill that covered every 99er? Why do the Democrats start with a weak position and then through negotiations with the “Party of No” end up with even weaker legislation? The only positive is that something was introduced, but that something is weak at best in its current form

[nancym]

Thanks for posting that.

Putting aside any agreement or not with the choice of the cutoff percentages, I think the San Diego Examiner writer gives a seriously skewed view of the history of 4213. Call me nit-picky, I just like to see these 99er support articles with more facts than mere reaction.

[sc4ram]

http://stabenow.senate.gov/infocus/AmericansWanttoWork.html

[sc4ram]

http://economy.ocregister.com/2010/09/10/congress-returns-to-jobless-bill-for-99ers/40401/

[sc4ram]

http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-in-rochester/ed-schultz-99ers-tier-5-the-americans-want-to-work-act-on-the-agenda-next-week?cid=examiner-email

[nancym]

http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-in-rochester/ed-schultz-99ers-tier-5-the-americans-want-to-work-act-on-the-agenda-next-week?cid=examiner-email

Wow! That is news, thanks for posting. Michael Thornton is the best of those "pseudo-news" Examiner bloggers, IMO.

But I hope the comment (in the comment section of that article) by one of the sources (Donnalee King) six hours later does not mean that's just a rumor about those two senators.

If true, that's big news about Lemieux. In the beginning of his term, I never thought he was quite the villain that some thought he was, and he had a few good ideas that I don't know if they ever got heard. He's not in the same category as that idiot Bunning and some others. But it's been frustrating seeing him simply walk the party line at the detriment to Florida while we have double-digit unemployment. Since he's not running, he's a free agent, and perhaps a glimmer of hope in this mess.

But getting S.3706 to the floor, if that actually happens, can be far from actual passage if the final vote is still no and if the other states with lower unemployment rates object that they are not included (like last time this happened). But it's probably rather telling that Lemieux's mailbox was full and not taking any more messages last week.

[sc4ram]

Although you are right to point out the devil is in the details, it is the most hope we have seen for a Tier V in months. A detail that is missing here is how it would be paid for (Open Congress says there are no off-sets, ie it would add to the deficit). If the Dems allowed it to be paid for by remaining stimulus funds (which they insist have already been "allocated") or TARP receipts, I think they could easily peal off enough Repubs to pass it. (assumeing the leadership doesnt attach a bunch of other ammendments to it which would then make it a issue not a bill to pass)

I dont think most people that run for office are necessiarily idiots, but certainly many members of Congress' compentence and motives can be questioned. Whats interesting here is that Sens Voinivich & Lemuix are both lame ducks, and represent high unemployment states (ie they dont give a damn about the election) . Perhaps they are willing to take a bullit on this for posterity (as they have nothing to loose) . In Sen Lemiux's case the only downside is given he is a Gov Crist appointee their detractors will claim its more biz as ususal (deficit spend) . Sen Lemiux was also one of the votes for the recently passed small biz bill ( most small biz guys Ive seen interviewed said it doesnt solve any of their problems, but thats besides the point) . Given this history and that theoretically its in the Dems interest to pass a bill before the election, I think i may have new found cause for optimism.

These guys never cease to amaze me, but it is hard for me to imagine some Dem voting against this on the grounds it doesnt help their <7.5% Unemployment state. Stay tuned..................

[sc4ram]

here we go .............

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/23/shelley-berkley_n_736548.html

[nancym]

here we go .............

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/23/shelley-berkley_n_736548.html

Wow. And now on the Senate side, another possible development. I'm linking the Open Congress post first for the opinion, then the link posted in that post to the main article, which should probably be sprinkled heavily with grains of salt, but nevertheless is quite a dramatic story and cause for hope (along with the salt):

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s3706/comments?comment_id=210950&comment_page=33
(at top of the page)

The link from there to the blog post: http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2010_09_25_archive.html

[sc4ram]

http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-in-rochester/ed-schultz-gives-99ers-hope-sen-stabenow-will-bring-the-americans-want-to-work-act-to-senate-floor?cid=examiner-email

[sc4ram]

Update: According to Sen. Debbie Stabenow's Twitter page,

Stabenow's bill, #S3706, The Americans Want to Work Act, will be on the Senate floor tomorrow. https://twitter.com/#!/StabenowPress

[Sponsored content]