Senate restores $18 billion in jobless benefits [View All]

Source: AP

By ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is sending President Barack Obama an $18 billion bill to restore unemployment benefits for people who have been out of a job for months and resume full Medicare payments to doctors threatened by a 21 percent cut.

The House cleared the bill Thursday night by a 289-112 tally taken just two hours after it emerged from the Senate on a 59-38 vote that capped an unusually partisan debate. Republicans largely chose to take a stand against the legislation for adding to the $12.8 trillion national despite backing it by wide margins in December and again recently.

"It increases the deficit by $18 billion, a cost to be paid for by future generations," said Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. "This legislation is yet another unfortunate example of business as usual in our nation's capital."

But the vote comes as welcome relief to hundreds of thousands of people who lost out on the additional weeks of benefits after exhausting their state-paid benefits. They will be able to reapply for long-term unemployment benefits and receive those checks retroactively under the legislation.


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