SENATE PANEL ADDS JOBLESS BENEFITS
EXTENSION TO BUSH WAR FUNDING BILL

Throwing down the gauntlet against anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush, the Democratic-run Senate Appropriations Committee passed a measure extending federal jobless benefits to 39 weeks in most states--and 52 in a few--up from the present 26 weeks. The panel added the benefits, and money to pay for them, to Bush’s Iraq War funding bill.

Organized labor strongly supports the jobless benefits extension. It is the centerpiece of the second stimulus package that union leaders and congressional Democratic leaders agreed upon last month. But Bush has vowed to veto any war funding bill that has extra provisions in it for domestic spending.

Appropriations Committee member Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the panel’s subcommittee that doles out money for labor programs, as well as health and human services spending, announced the move after the May 8 vote.

“We are now spending $16 million an hour in Iraq while our economy struggles and American families feel the pain,” said Harkin. “I believe we have a responsibility to also take care of the needs in our own backyards. With this funding package we can give our own country an economic boost,” through the jobless benefits extension. Extending jobless benefits would cost an estimated $15.6 billion over the next decade.

Other provisions in the Senate panel’s version of the stimulus package would “bolster our investment in life-saving research and keep drugs and crime off our streets,” he added. “While the president may insist on pouring American tax dollars into his war in Iraq, I will continue to fight for investments that will strengthen our communities and our economy here at home.”

The second stimulus package would provide money to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks for all workers nationwide, plus an additional 13 weeks for workers in high-unemployment states such as Michigan. Harkin said extending unemployment benefits now would “provide an immediate boost for the economy, and at the same time, help families weather the storm.

“Economists agree that extending unemployment benefits is a powerful, cost-effective way to stimulate the economy—every dollar spent on benefits leads to $1.64 in economic growth,” he added.

While the second stimulus package was easily attached to the war money bill in the Senate panel, the situation in the House is uncertain. There, congressional Democratic leaders split the war money bill into three parts for separate votes: One on dollars for the war itself, another on war-making policy--such as banning use of the war funds for torture--and a third containing the domestic stimulus programs, including the jobless benefits.

The catch is that fiscally conservative Democrats, many of them representing districts Bush carried in 2004, threaten to vote against the third section unless money is cut elsewhere to offset its costs. With the House GOP dead set against extending jobless benefits--Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) calls them “unnecessary extra spending”--the Democrats’ opposition could be enough to sink the benefits.

House Democratic leaders are scrambling for the needed votes.