The Senate Has Three Days to Save the Safety Net

by M G · 2010-02-26 05:30:00 UTC
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The safety net for millions of unemployed people across America is in serious jeopardy. For months, many advocates for the poor shrugged off the looming deadline to extend unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies, assuming that whatever the level of partisan warfare in Washington, Congress would find a way to get the job done. They have exactly three days to do so.

The fund for extended unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies was created, then extended, by Congress as part of the response to the Great Recession. Since the recession's effects are far from over for millions of unemployed people, nearly everyone assumed the benefits would be extended once again before they expire on March 1. But, despite no clear opposition to the idea of another extension, it still hasn't happened.

The House passed a bill that includes a renewal of the program, but the Senate's jobs bill passed earlier this week didn't do it. Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid is considering a stop-gap measure that would extend the benefits for a couple of weeks while the Senate creates a full plan, but Republican Sen. Jim Bunning already blocked one effort to do so. And then, inexplicably, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl said Thursday that a deal on the extension would depend on the resolution of a debate over the estate tax. Let's pause to consider the inanity of that for a second: before extending benefits that millions of people need to survive, Kyl wants to discuss a tax that only affects people whose loved ones die with millions in the bank. I'm blown away.

The Brookings Institution estimates that if the Senate does not act, another 800,000 jobs will be lost in addition to the millions of already-unemployed people who will lose their benefits. And studies have shown that every dollar of unemployment insurance awarded creates $1.90 of revenue in the community. We're not out of this recession yet, and if we ever hope to be, the Senate must act immediately.

Photo credit: Alex E. Proimos

M G was most recently a staff reporter for The Washington Post, covering philanthropy and nonprofits, education and the war in Iraq.
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