Star Tribune: While Unemployed Minnesotans Rallied in St. Paul, Congress Advanced Some Help

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By Kevin Diaz and Mike Kaszuba

Jobless Minnesotans would see their unemployment and health benefits extended and the state would get help closing its budget gap under a $150 billion bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday.

The bill, which still faces a vote in the House, would send as much as $430 million to insure the poor in Minnesota at a time when the state faces a crushing deficit and a 7.3 percent unemployment rate.

Facing persistent unemployment across the nation, Democrats in Washington are using their majorities in Congress to push through a flurry of economic provisions under the banner of a jobs agenda that is still taking form.

"Over 200,000 Minnesotans request unemployment benefits every week," said Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. "Today, we made sure that they can continue to receive them."

The Senate bill passed 62-36, largely along party lines. It would continue tax credits for businesses and individuals, as well as safety-net funding for the unemployed and for state governments that are running out of money.

That includes $25 billion to help states with rising Medicaid costs, which have contributed to Minnesota's $1.2 billion budget deficit.

Just as the Senate passed the bill, hundreds of Minnesotans -- including skilled tradesmen who have been out of work so long their benefits have run out -- rallied at the state Capitol to demand a focus on jobs.

Among them was Jesse Werling, 41, a married father of two who has not worked since late January. In 2009, Werling said, he worked six months.

So how does he make it? "I bake bread, you know, we cook a lot. We keep chickens," said the Stillwater resident.

Despite his unemployment benefits, which already have been extended, "it's just constant uncertainty," said Werling, whose wife no longer works outside the home.

"I avoid as many loans as I can, drive old cars and keep fixing them up," he said. "We try to live as much of a non-consumer lifestyle as we can."

Although Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been a frequent critic of federal spending, he has been counting on federal assistance to help balance the state's books and avoid steeper health care cuts.

"It looks like enhanced Medicaid funding may be forthcoming," said Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung.

Still, the U.S. House has yet to take up the Senate legislation, with the two chambers working on separate and sometimes disparate jobs bills.

For example, the Senate has yet to take up the $75 billion Jobs for Main Street Act that the House passed in December as a signature Democratic jobs initiative. That bill would provide more than $500 million for Minnesota road projects championed by Iron Range DFLer Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Committee. On Wednesday, Oberstar expressed frustration with the legislative pace in the Senate, which also has yet to vote on the final version of a $15 billion House bill that would provide tax credits for employers who hire new workers.

"It is encouraging to see the Senate working on the Jobs for Main Street bill, even if they are having to break it into smaller bills and pass them piecemeal," Oberstar said. "Let's hope they can keep their noses to the grindstone."

No source of funding

Meanwhile, House leaders rolled out a new $100 billion spending bill on Wednesday to help state and local governments avoid public sector layoffs. Parts of the bill, including funds for teachers, firefighters and police officers, replicate provisions in the bill the House passed in December.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., one of the architects of the new proposal, said the plan could help create a million public and private jobs over the next two years by ensuring that communities around the nation can operate essential services and avoid local tax increases.

"In the 1930s we had massive unemployment and the country responded to the needs of people who were unemployed," Ellison said. "Our generation can't do any less."

One problem: The House bill identifies no new funding sources for the federal aid. Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said that "leadership will have to deal with that."F

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