Unemployment Benefits Extension Passes 87-13 in the Senate
Posted on | October 27, 2009 | 42 Comments
Tonight we saw the Senate vote 87-13 in favor of the unemployment benefits extension. This benefit extension stands to help over 2 million unemployed American workers. The vote basically starts the debate on the extension by lawmakers. From Capital.gr “Using the rules of the Senate, Republicans could force up to 60 hours of debate on the measure, taking up almost a week of Senate floor time before a vote on final passage could occur on the legislation.”
The unemployment rate in the United States is currently 9.8% and many analysts and every the President himself have predicted that the unemployment rate would reach double digits. One estimate has illustrated that over 2 million long-term unemployed Americans will have used up their benefits by the end of this year. The White House issued a statement on Tuesday that they support the Senate legislation.
There have been many rumors that the first time home buyers tax credit extension would be part of a bill with the unemployment benefits extension but at this point this does not seem likely. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is adamant about having the home buyers tax credit extended before the expiration of November 30th.
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Author: Alan Lake
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42 Responses to “Unemployment Benefits Extension Passes 87-13 in the Senate”
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October 27th, 2009 @ 6:29 pm
[...] UPDATE: Unemployment Benefits Extension Passes 87-13 in the Senate [...]
October 27th, 2009 @ 7:04 pm
Does this mean we will be able to get some groceries and pay our bills soon?
October 27th, 2009 @ 8:04 pm
The extension did not pass. the cloture vote passed, clearing the way to bring HR3548 to the table without the stalling. The opposition can still debate it for 60 hours before vote. If it passes, then it goes back to the congress, and then to President Obama for his signature. Then you have to wait one to two weeks for your states unemployment to get everything together.
October 27th, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
Please hurry and pass this. My family needs the money like yesterday….
October 27th, 2009 @ 8:24 pm
It will not take that long now.it should go straight thru now.Don’t be telling people two weeks.you’ll see.
October 27th, 2009 @ 8:32 pm
For anyone interested, here are the names and numbers of the Republicans that voted NO. Let’s all flood their offices with phone calls and find out why they don’t want this to pass, and tell them how bad it is out there for all of us.
Sen John Barasso(R-WY) DC office 202-224-6441
Sen Christopher Bond(R-MO) DC 202-224-5721
Sen Jim Bunning(R-KY) DC 202-224-4343
Sen Thomas Coburn(R-OK) DC 202-224-5754
Sen John Cornyn(R-TX) Dc 202-224-2934
Sen Jim DeMint(R-SC) DC 202-224-6121
Sen Michael Enzi(R-WY) DC 202-224-3424
Sen Lindsay Graham(R-SC) DC 202-224-5972
Sen Orrin Hatch(R-UT) DC 202-224-5251
Sen James Inhofe(R-OK) DC 202-224-4721
Sen Jefferson Sessions(R-AL) DC 202-224-4124
Sen David Vitter (R-LA) DC 202-224-4623
Sen Roger Wicker(R-MS) DC 202-224-6253
Let’s get this bill passed!
October 27th, 2009 @ 8:32 pm
Please hurry these have been some of the hardest times of my life i would love to at least be able to buy thanksgiving dinner!
October 27th, 2009 @ 8:36 pm
Unfortunately, the bill may not pass that quickly. The Open Congress site said that the Republicans can still put ammendments on it, and that they can debate this for at least another 30 hours before it goes to the House. If there are ammendments on it, the House could take a little longer. However, it also said that the republicans are most likely going o back off and let it pass alone. Let’s pray they do. That is why I gave the name and numbers of the ones who are voting NO because we need to persuade them to let it pass without these ammendments that have nothing to do with this bill.
October 27th, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
Christine,
Good job in identifying the “NO” votes today.
Something of interest… did you notice Senator
Kyl of Arizona voted “Aye” today.
He was the one who stopped the passage in the first place and probably got flooded with
e-mail telling him how rotten he was.
I know I sent him one.
Tomorrow on C-Span should be interesting.
If we are fortunate… I estimate the first
week in December for things to start to improve
for us in the form of checks.
October 27th, 2009 @ 9:10 pm
They voted to vote? LOL
October 27th, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
I believe this is very telling regarding these 13 Republicans we have in office. How can they in good conscience stall this when there are folks wondering how they’ll feed their family and pay the their basic bills which are now long overdue. To play one more minute of “no” politics much less another 30-90 hours after stalling for over a month regarding this bill is criminal!
October 27th, 2009 @ 9:39 pm
…thank you, christine, for the update and the senate reps responsible for the delay of this important bill…if this does not pass soon our family will be living in our vehicle…it is frightening after working hard for over 20 years…if one of these member’s family were in such a situation this bill would have been passed yesterday…good luck to everyone who is in need…take care!
October 27th, 2009 @ 10:04 pm
Yep it passed, how unfortunate. More welfare entitlement programs for the fat couch potatos that love daytime tv. Enjoy the 14 to 20 weeks of fat bliss, it goes fast. The reality will set in when you lazy blathering idiots really have to pound the pavement. Here’s a suggestion, golden arches, burger king, mall cop, janitor. Have a great day, Johnson
October 27th, 2009 @ 10:09 pm
Lets just assume the worst case scenario(aside from it never passing, but we know it will eventually) I thought the most they deliberate was 30 hours, but we’ll go with 60. I’ll even add a few days cause they like those 4 day weekends too, this puts it next week, lets even go to Friday next week….bla, bla, bla, ok now the following monday is Nov 9. by then it should be to the House and throw in 1 more day to the president(nov 10). then the states get it together and people should be getting some help by the 24th. thats what Im counting on and anything before will just be a bonus. Although I think they all will want to get this over with rather quickly. also I believe this will be considered an add on to the last fed extension and in some states we will not have to wait for the mail to us we are eligible. Either way, today was a big step closer.
October 27th, 2009 @ 10:17 pm
I’m sorry but this is more bs. This opens the door for “debate.” What does that even mean? What is there to debate? And again, if the dems really cared about the “emergency” situation we are all in, why did they include the home buyer tax credit. What does that even have to do with unemployment benefit extension?
This opens the door to “60 hours of floor debate” before it goes into a vote. Sorry, folks but this means another week in the Senate before it goes to the House for approval. Then it has to go to Obama for final approval. For all of us people trying to keep a roof over our heads, and food on the table can keep asking favors from family and friends because we won’t see any money anytime soon.
Well, this really takes the “emergency” extension to a whole new level. House lawmakers were looking out for our best interest. Senate can all suck you know what!!
October 27th, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
Actually, cloture — which was the Tuesday vote — limits the additional debate time to 30 hours on the bill itself (HR 3548), not amendments. Basically, Reid has shut out the Republican amendment packages, forcing the Senate to vote on the bare-boned bill — with just the unemployment extensions intact.
Thus, the Republicans have little incentive to spin their wheels debating. The vast majority of the debate to date has been about the funding and the add-ons (at one point up to nine amendments had been raised for consideration).
It was reported that they reached an agreement on the source of funding last week. So with the other amendments tabled, who is really going to speak against this bill which now offers only extended benefits to all states? No add-ons left to fight about.
Most people on Capitol Hill are now predicting relatively quick passage of the streamlined bill — some believe it could happen as early as this week.
October 27th, 2009 @ 10:45 pm
Its nice to know that these lawmakers dont give a cr@p about those of us that have lost our jobs. They are sitting there in fat hog heaven holding us from putting food on OUR plates. My wife lost her job a long time ago and I was recently notified that mine will be lost. I really hope this passes soon or lord knows where we will be able to go. I wish I was close enough to smack them all around and wake them up to what middle class America is facing while they go home to their protected jobs.
October 27th, 2009 @ 10:52 pm
Is it really true that only Republicans voted against this bill….hmmmm Maybe the people that need it the most will remember this fact during the next election..doubtful though
October 27th, 2009 @ 11:15 pm
I am a mid 30′s male laid off 2 years ago from the real estate industry, I cannot compete with high school or college kid for even a seasonal job or any other crappy 10 buck an hour job, the banks and auto industry got thier bailout when they needed it, why can we have ours? It’s not our fault, but the big companys still get a bail out after THEY ruined thier company and ran it in the ground, it’s just bs and our gov should be ashamed of themselves
October 27th, 2009 @ 11:23 pm
Dawn, well put! Congressional rules need be amended to FORBID Congressional reps’ MESSY and SABOTAGING ADMIXTURES of IRRELEVANT and EXTRANEOUS TOPICS to “EMERGENCY” bills, as this u/i extension is!
If an executive can have a “line item veto,”
why cannot Congress keep the topic of a bill one? A multi-issue bill MUST be split into separate bills, each ONE topic, each for a SEPARATE vote. It ought be ILLEGAL for any legislator, ever, to add an off-topic to any bill. This wastes huge time (thus, HUGE money), and — as in this u/i extension crisis
– over half a million jobless Americans’ ability to tread fiscal water, subsist.
Shame on (otherwise good, pro-populace)
Sen. Schumer for trying to append to the u/i bill the separate issue of homebuyer tax credits. And thus his FORGETTING that now, past and future WEEKS of INCOMELESSNESS mean pending starvation, homelessness, and permanent wreckage of credit as bills are not paid, and thus creditor LATE FEES and PERM HIGHER APRs are assessed. This makes a mockery of Congress’s pretense at representing the American people. This is not democracy.
And President Obama . . . WHY is he so SILENT? WHY is he not being a REAL superhero, RUSHING IN to BREAK THIS DEADLOCK? This, so far, is HIS FISCAL equivalent of W’s culpable NONRESPONSE to Hurricane Katrina. Too busy posing for photo ops? Mr. President, SHOW SOME LEADERSHIP! WALK your TALK!
I’ve read that this bill’s benefits will NOT BE RETROACTIVE. That is unconscionable.
The Senate (BOTH parties), after a MONTH of SIT STILL on this EMERGENCY u/i BILL, has turned a callous (if not clueless) deaf ear and blind eye to the (now weeks-old) incomeless peril of a half million Americans.
It’s the equivalent of their being told that a half million Americans are NOW hungry or drowning, and instead of rushing like FEMA to save the victims, they begin to start to dawdle debate about maybe in the future tossing inadequate sops and schwimmies. But can’t agree about the sizes or brands.
Meanwhile, the hungry (fiscal) drowners starve and drown. OPPOSITE of USA’s heroic past.
October 27th, 2009 @ 11:38 pm
I don’t think that the Republicans are really so stupid. There won’t be hours of debate. What can they gain to stall the extension? They have already made their point, it dosn’t make sense to continue.
October 27th, 2009 @ 11:43 pm
lets show those that voted no that we the people can also vote no to them in the ballot box
October 28th, 2009 @ 12:27 am
Dawn, I believe it was the Senate Republicans rather than the Democrats that added the home buyer tax credit!
October 28th, 2009 @ 1:03 am
I’m Country Carl the Artist and Advocate for additional unemployment benefits. CURRENTLY the GOP is holding us hostage on the extension bill over funding issues and have added several extortion amendments. Your story clearly highlights this jobless disaster. We need NOW to contact our Senators and all the US Senators on Unemployment-Gone-Mad.com,( http://unemployment-gone-mad.com/ ) to realize additional benefits during these NEW DEPRESSION BLUES times(Forget Mitch McConnell R/Kentucky his attitude is “LET THEM EAT CAKE”). Otherwise thousands more will become dumpster divers, tent pitchers and street corner beggars. It’s NOW up to the US SENATE and the rest of Us to get this done.
October 28th, 2009 @ 2:40 am
Thanks for the list of A-Hole senators that voted nay on the unemployment extension bill. Now we have a list of people we can vote out of office when the elections come. You senators have been given notice. Soon you will be unemployed and nobody will fell soryy for you. Karma suck dosen’t it you A-Hole senators who voted nay. Rot in hell bastards.
October 28th, 2009 @ 2:41 am
Thanks for the list of A-Hole senators that voted nay on the unemployment extension bill. Now we have a list of people we can vote out of office when the elections come. You senators have been given notice. Soon you will be unemployed and nobody will fell sorry for you. Karma suck dosen’t it you A-Hole senators who voted nay. Rot in hell bastards.
October 28th, 2009 @ 2:52 am
There are just way too many people who will not have the bare necessities due to not receiving a paycheck this week. Without unemployment, we do not eat, we do not have toilet paper, and we do not have gas money to apply for other jobs!! Is this too much to ask for in life? PLEASE!!! Step up and do what’s right!! Pass this!!
October 28th, 2009 @ 2:56 am
I AM GOING TO START CALLING TODAY, WE ALL NEED TO CALL, NOT ONE OF THEM IS IN FEAR OF NOT BEING ABLE TO HAVE A ROOF OVER THEIR HEAD OR HEAT, OR FOOD! WE MUST PULL TOGETHER AND PRAY TO JESUS CHRIST TO INTERVENE AND THEN DO OUR PART BY CALLING AND LETTING THEM KNOW ITS A DISGRACE THAT THEY WOULD EVEN THINK OF HOLDING UP THE LIFE LINE THAT MOST OF THIS NATION IS USING AT THIS TIME! MOST IMPORTANTLY, REMEMBER THAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST USES THESE TIME TO DRAW US CLOSER TO HIM, SO PRAY AND TRUST HIM! GOD BLESS!
October 28th, 2009 @ 3:59 am
Does this mean that a person who has exhausted all benefits can assume they will be included in this extension thank god if so xmas is coming and the bills are piled up!
October 28th, 2009 @ 4:01 am
did it or didnt it pass what is the hold up!!!!!
October 28th, 2009 @ 4:42 am
We are they saying it has passed as we are hopefull it will are these repubic hairs awful or what,,why does america allow them to even have jobs..waste of your money and mine..get them out!!!! NOW!!!!
October 28th, 2009 @ 5:10 am
FORGET ABOUT THE 60 HOURS OF DEBATE!!! THE MONEY AND THAT YOU WASTE OF OURS WHILE “DEBATING” WOULD FEED FAMILIES THIS WEEK!!!! THE VOTE WAS 83-17!!! CLEARLY A DEBATE IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE MINDS OF PEOPLE WITH COMMON SENSE!!!
October 28th, 2009 @ 5:44 am
This is to Johnson that replyed.Hope you have a ass kissing Job.cause your job could be took tomorrow.if you even work.This is NOT welfare.I worked all my life and payed in to this.Maybe you didnt pay but I did.I regret to remarks you make on these people.cause it can happen to you ,your family,your kids.you are cold hearted bas—-.
October 28th, 2009 @ 5:50 am
I 2nd that , what gina wrote .. Johnson is a Dick head for writing such a stupid remark –
Dave -
October 28th, 2009 @ 6:21 am
This is a reply to Johnson who clearly must not have a family to feed. Clearly he is heartless and has no compassion. Let me tell you something. Where I live in Ohio everybody from the lower class to high class are struggling to pay bills or find a job. I am hard working mother of three. I am in school getting ready to start my Bachelors degree in accounting. My job was taken away after 8 years and closed down and moved to Texas. This is not about sitting on the couch and drawing unemployment. This is about feeding our kids. keeping a roof over our heads. We are Americans we are human, why would we not deserve to get some help. I have never in my life depended on the state for help! I am 42 years old and have always paid my taxes. How dare you belittle working Americans that are trying. What the F.. are we suppose to do if there are no jobs. oh yes, lets comment on your version of getting a job at a fast food joint…well guess what they are not hiring either. So you can take your negative comments somewhere where idiot people like yourself will listen. I am sorry but we have enough negativity in our lives right now, a lot of stress. I mean you are in touch with today? We are in an economic meltdown. So good luck everyone. I am one of the one’s also unemployed and only have 2 more payments from unemployment.So, god help us all in this time of need. The hec with all of you people that are heartless. You can thank Bush and the republican party that has gotten us into this mess. Go OBAMA…He will make the change..just be patient… we are on the road to recovery like when Clinton was in office.
October 28th, 2009 @ 7:03 am
Johnson, whether you agree politically with the unemployment benefits or not you can refrain from the personal,judgemental,verbal attack. It’s unemployment benefits which means people had to have been working previously. My husband has been a hard working man providing for his family for the past 12 years. He was laid off 6 months ago and has been “pounding the pavement”. He’s even tried for the minimum wage jobs and has been turned down because he’s “overqualified”. They want someone who will continue working even when the economy picks up. Some days he’s put in as many as 15 resumes. The jobs just aren’t out there right now. I now of several other hard working men in the same boat. They are not lazy couch potatoes or blathering idiots. The are victims of a bad economy and would do anything to be working again.
October 28th, 2009 @ 8:05 am
a new article posted 1 hour ago(wednesday around 10am) says that the vote to begin debate can be after midnight tonight? I thought the next vote the senate took would be to pass the bill and then send it back to the house? The best way I have found to get updates is to follow senatus on twitter, the updates are almost immediate. Sometimes C span can leave you cluless.
October 28th, 2009 @ 9:12 am
Loved all the comments,
Christine telephone number for the Senators was great,
Just finish calling each and every one of them I sugguest we all do the same and ask them to change their mind!
Sen. David Vitter(R-LA) his offices says:
there state does not qualify due to their unemployment rate is in the 7′s.. But thats just LA, come on…..
October 28th, 2009 @ 9:17 am
Se. Jim DeMint (R-SC)office said that the Senator beleives it will cause a deficit!! Really?
I did ask each and everyone of the Senators office if they were hiring or needed some type of office help, the answer was all NO!!!!
I have been looking for work for a year and I consider myself a smart, common sense, hard working woman, but no one says when can you start! So we need help, Please
October 28th, 2009 @ 10:59 am
[...] Unemployment Benefits Extension Passes 87-13 in the Senate… [...]
October 28th, 2009 @ 11:04 am
The republicans did this exact same thing during the Great Depression of the 1930′s. But people remembered and the republicans were out of power FOR DECADES…
Keep being the party of hate and divisiveness. You’ll NEVER be back in power. God bless President Obama.
October 29th, 2009 @ 11:20 am
please pass fast i am a single parent with a high school dipolma but these days if u dont have any college then your outta luck we need food electric an a thanksgiving for our familys what do we tell our children santa is on hold this yr