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  House Fails To Extend Jobless Benefits
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ContributorScottĀ³ 
Last EditedScottĀ³  Jun 13, 2008 02:59am
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CategoryNews
MediaNewspaper - Washington Post
News DateThursday, June 12, 2008 08:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionWashington Post.

An excerpt...
"The House yesterday narrowly failed to approve a proposal to give jobless workers an extra three months of unemployment benefits, but Democratic leaders said they would bring back the bill for a second vote today.

Despite a White House veto threat, 49 Republicans voted with a united Democratic caucus in favor of the measure, which would provide an extra 13 weeks of unemployment checks to all jobless workers and an extra 13 weeks on top of that to job seekers in high-unemployment states such as Michigan, California and Alaska.

Democrats rushed to bring the bill to a vote in the wake of the May jobless report, which showed the largest one-month jump in unemployment filings in 22 years. The national unemployment rate climbed to 5.5 percent from 5 percent, as the number of laid-off workers rose to 8.5 million. More than 18 percent of them -- or 1.6 million people -- had been out of work for 27 weeks or more, and therefore were likely to have exhausted the benefits that pay, on average, about $300 a week.

House leaders brought the bill to the floor, needing two-thirds of the vote for approval -- the same number that would be needed to override a presidential veto. They fell three votes short; the final vote was 279 to 144. But today's vote will require only a simple majority, Democrats said, and the measure is expected to pass easily.

"Given the strong bipartisan support expressed for this bill today on the House floor, we have every intention of bringing this legislation up for a vote tomorrow that simply requires a majority to prevail," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.)."
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