Labor & Employment Law

Senate OKs Jobs Bill: Reid Promises More on the Way, Including UI Extension

By Mike Hall

The U.S. Senate this morning passed (70-28) a jobs bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) promises “is not the only jobs bill or the last jobs bill we will bring to the floor.”

The next step likely will be a 30-day extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and COBRA health care subsidies for unemployed workers. Both jobless aid programs are set to expire Feb. 28, and in March alone, 1.2 million people will lose their UI lifeline and health care unless Congress acts.

But with long-term unemployment continuing to rise (currently at an all-time high of 40 percent of all unemployed) the program needs to be extended for at least one year, economists say. Reid says the 30-day measure is a stop-gap while congressional negotiators try to develop a longer-term solution. Click here to tell your senators to act now.

The U.S. House?which passed a far more extensive jobs bill earlier with an emphasis on jobs-creating infrastructure projects?is expected to vote on the Senate bill by the end of the week.

Today’s jobs bill includes a one-year extension of the federal highway program, an extension of the Build America Bonds program that helps states finance certain infrastructure projects and tax incentives for employers to hire workers.

But the nation’s staggering 11 million jobs deficit, created by years of Wall Street recklessness and failed Bush-era economic policies, requires far broader jobs legislation such as the AFL-CIO’s five-point jobs program, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

We need much bigger and bolder actions to ensure that we create 10 million jobs and Wall Street pays the bill to fix the financial disaster.

The five-point plan includes:

• Extending UI benefits, food assistance and health benefits;
• Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and investing in green jobs;
• Increasing aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services, especially schools and public safety;
• Increasing funding for neglected communities to match people who want to work with jobs that need to be done; and
• Using leftover bank bailout funds to get credit flowing to small businesses for job creation.

On Tuesday night, the Senate broke a Republican filibuster against the bill. Several Republican senators who voted to block the bill Tuesday, cast “yes” votes today. Says Trumka:

In a turn of head-spinning hypocrisy, some Republican senators had the audacity to vote for a bill they voted less than 48 hours ago not to allow even to be considered. If these senators want to be seen as part of the solution, they must stop these procedural hijinks that are slowing down the Senate and hurting the recovery. Working families need jobs and are demanding real results from Washington.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).