Wall Street Journal - Another Year-End Fight: Emergency Jobless Benefits

News Article

By Siobhan Hughes

To the list of bitter year-end fights in Congress, add an emergency jobless-benefits program that is set to expire three days after Christmas.

With 1.3 million Americans at risk of losing the long-term benefits in several weeks, Democrats are hoping to pressure Republicans into renewing the compensation program, which was put in place in mid-2008 amid the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression.

Republicans, noting that the program has already cost $265 billion, say that after five and a half years, the economy has improved and the time has come for the federal backstop to end.

"It was meant to be temporary, and we need to let the program expire," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R., Mich.) said on Wednesday. "This has gone on longer than any emergency benefits in the history of the country."

Individuals are eligible for emergency compensation after they have exhausted their state benefits, which typically last for 26 weeks. When the U.S. economy was mired in recession, Americans were able to receive state and federal benefits for as long as 99 weeks combined. But as the economy has improved, Congress has shortened the duration of benefits, and it now allows for a maximum 73 weeks of combined benefits in states where the unemployment rate is above 9%.

Democrats say Republicans want to abruptly cut a lifeline for jobless workers, and accuse them of overlooking the high number of people who are stuck without a job. Some 4.1 million people have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, government data show. That is down from the 6.7 million in 2010 but more than the 1.3 million in the month the recession hit.

"We have the extraordinary circumstance of a historically high number of people long-term unemployed," said Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on Ways and Means.

On Thursday, House Democrats were scheduled to use a public hearing to try to spotlight the difficulties of jobless people, and call on Republicans who control the House to renew the emergency program before Congress adjourns for the year. Some would like to include the extension in any budget deal.

"We are pushing hard for that," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. "I'm sure you've heard from the public comments of our Republican colleagues--they are not."

Republicans say that emergency unemployment programs ultimately discourage companies from hiring and people from looking for jobs.

"As benefits run out, the unemployed get far more serious about their job seeking; they consider their options more seriously as well," said Rep. Kevin Brady (R., Texas). "That's just human nature in this."