Senate closer to voting on extending jobless benefits

Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington -- The Senate moved closer tonight to passing legislation to extend an additional 20 weeks of unemployment benefits to Michigan and other hard-hit states, but left a final vote to Tuesday at the earliest.

The Senate today voted 85-2 to limit debate and move ahead on the measure. That was the second vote that showed broad, bi-partisan support.

But Republican leaders have held up the bill in tussles with Democratic leaders over possible amendments to it.

The Senate proposal would extend jobless benefits by 14 weeks to all states, plus six more weeks to states most reeling from the recession.

A House version would give an extra 13 weeks to unemployed workers in states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent.

The Senate is expected to pass the extension. It's unclear whether House-Senate conferees will be appointed to work on a compromise version. It's possible that the House would take up the Senate bill, speeding up the process.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Washington office said if the Congress and president agree to a final bill this week the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency would be able to begin payments to jobless workers who've exhausted their benefits by mid-December.

That's not soon enough for 36-year-old Tricia Butts, who cashed her last unemployment check in late July and had to move with her two sons into her father's home in Taylor.

"I am frustrated and angry," Butts said. "Why can't they move faster? Mid-December? What about Thanksgiving? If my father weren't helping us, we'd have absolutely nothing."

But critic James Sherk, a labor expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., points out the added benefits would mean longtime unemployed workers in Michigan could end up with nearly two years of unemployment checks.

"This program wasn't set up to be a form of welfare," Sherk said. "At some point, people have to make tough decisions, like move to other states where there are jobs or get retraining."

Michigan jobless workers can get up to 79 weeks of unemployment benefits.

As of Oct. 16, 44,484 Michiganians had cashed their last unemployment check.

Between Oct. 16 and Jan. 8, another 54,305 will exhaust their benefits unless Congress and the president agree to additional benefits.

Meanwhile, 402,750 Americans had exhausted their benefits at the end of September, according to the National Employment Law Project. Without action, 1.3 million Americans will have cashed their last check by the end of the year.

Michigan Sens. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, voted to proceed.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who pushed the Senate to include additional benefits for all states, said, "unemployment ... is a hardship that hits every community, in every state, in every part of our country."

Shaheen said 7,000 Americans cash their last unemployment check each day.

Some House supporters -- who passed their version in late September -- are growing frustrated with the Senate's slow pace.

"The Senate must act as every day of delay means more individuals are exhausting their unemployment benefits and more people still looking for work are having trouble making ends meet," said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, one for the chief advocates for the extension in the House.

About 450,000 unemployed workers in the state are receiving benefits.

Michigan provides a maximum of $362 per week in unemployment benefits to previously full-time workers, plus the additional $25 per week through the Recovery Act, for a total of $387 per week.

Tom Clementson, 58, an unemployed road construction worker in Indian River who cashed his last unemployment check six weeks ago, says many members of Congress don't understand the plight of average Americans.

"While they have been playing around, taking their time on passing this extension, real people have been hurting," said Clementson, who has been living off some savings and his wife's monthly disability check.

"I hope we are finally near the end of waiting on them," he added.

dprice@detnews.com (202) 662-8736