but fourth may be charmWASHINGTON — For the third time in as many weeks, Senate Republicans on Wednesday successfully filibustered a bill to continue providing unemployment checks to millions of people.
But this time, since the slimmed-down measure attracted two Republican votes, its passage seems assured next month once a replacement is in place for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who died Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a supporter of the bill, had to vote “nay” to take a procedural step that would allow for a revote. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska was the sole Democrat against it.
The jobless-aid measure is one of the last remnants of the Democrats’ jobs agenda.
Save for Republican moderates Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Republicans uniformly opposed the $33 billion measure because its cost would be added to the nation’s $13 trillion national debt.
