Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008

EMERGENCY EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 11, 2008)

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Mr. BLUNT. I thank my friend for yielding.

I, too, share the concerns that, for all the time that the House has dealt with this whole issue of extended unemployment benefits going back to 1981, we have never before left this up to the States to decide how this Federal money would be spent. By, in the past, saying that you had to meet the 20-week requirement, at least every State had the same situation that they dealt with.

I would also like to point out, Mr. Speaker, that this bill is being considered under a procedure known as suspension of the rules. Of course you know that, Mr. Speaker, but everyone who listens to this debate may not. Usually that procedure is used for noncontroversial matters. By putting it under a suspension of the rules, the so-called PAYGO requirement that the majority has talked about and trumpeted as fiscal discipline doesn't. That's a requirement where you pay for these benefits with a bill you bring to the floor. The roughly $10 billion cost of this bill is just being added to the deficit.

As we're well aware, a group of Democrats known as the ``Blue Dogs'' has been particularly strong in advocating this PAYGO arrangement, yet apparently they're not going to oppose this bill. And the reason appears to me to be quite revealing. This morning's CQ Today quotes one of the Blue Dog leaders as saying that PAYGO should not apply because it's only a temporary bill. The Member said it's not a bill that's forever, like the GI benefits bill, it's a short-term thing. So that means, I guess, that temporary spending increases don't have to be offset. Yet these same Blue Dogs have forced the House to pass billions of dollars in tax increases to extend current temporary tax provisions, like the research provisions, the development provisions, or the alternative minimum tax patch that we've been able to use to prevent more people from falling into that tax trap for some years, or the continuation of being able to deduct local and State sales taxes.

As I've said many times, the PAYGO provision is a tool that's used to promote tax increases. But every time the majority wants to figure out how to get around it, they seem to be able to figure out how to get around it, and they have with this bill today.

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