Senate approves jobless benefits extension

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday approved a $138 billion measure that would extend unemployment benefits and provide additional aid to states. It was the second major effort this year by lawmakers to boost the economy.

The chamber voted 62-36 to approve the legislation, which would also extend dozens of expiring tax cuts, ease corporate pension requirements and head off cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. The bill, partially financed by offsetting savings, would add $97 billion to the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“This has been and continues to be a horrific recession,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. “In addition to aiding families who are desperately in need of putting food on their tables and a roof over their heads, an extension of the unemployment insurance has a direct impact on our nation’s economy.”

The vote sends the bill to the House. Increased unemployment benefits are one of the best ways of providing short-term stimulus to the economy because recipients are likely to quickly spend any aid, which boosts overall demand in the economy, according to CBO.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that the unemployment rate in January climbed in 30 states and decreased in nine. Sixteen states had jobless rates topping the nationwide 9.7 percent unemployment rate that month. Unemployment in California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and the District of Columbia climbed to the highest levels since records began in 1976.

Congress’s earlier effort to help the jobless, an $18 billion plan offering companies a tax break for hiring people who have been unemployed for at least 60 days, is awaiting final approval in the Senate.

The bill approved Wednesday would extend until Dec. 31 expiring provisions in the law that offer as many as 99 weeks of unemployment checks, along with a 65 percent subsidy to help buy health insurance through the COBRA program.

The legislation would prevent millions from exhausting their benefits, though it would not spare all. According to the National Employment Law Project, a half-million Americans may burn through all of their allowable assistance by August.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, said, “We’re trying to give enough time to people on the chance they find something, but we know how hard it is.”

“These poor people — I can’t imagine what lies ahead for them,” Durbin said. “In my state, there are not many options out there and they’re all awful; people end up homeless, some of them struggle in soup kitchens and pantries trying to survive.”

The bill would send $25 billion to states struggling with slack tax revenue to help prevent layoffs of teachers, police officers and other public service employees. It would spend $6 billion to prevent for seven months a 21 percent scheduled cut in Medicare reimbursements.

The measure would renew a series of tax breaks for businesses and individuals that expired Dec. 31, including a research credit. It would renew a break that allows companies to defer U.S. taxes on profits from financing sales of equipment in overseas markets.

For individuals, the bill would renew a deduction for state and local sales taxes that could be used instead of the deduction for state and local income taxes. Some states, including Texas and Florida, don’t have an income tax.