WASHINGTON — With the votes in hand to break a Republican filibuster against the extension of jobless benefits, President Barack Obama stepped up pressure Monday on Republicans in an attack that has become a staple of his midterm election political strategy.
The Senate plans to vote today to overcome Republican refusal to vote on new aid to an estimated 2.5 million unemployed Americans whose jobless benefits have lapsed because of the length of time they have been out of work.
Once Senate passage of $33.9 billion in extra funds is approved by the House, a step expected this week, money will flow to jobless people across the country. California, New York, Florida and Illinois are among the states with the highest numbers of jobless whose benefits have expired. The benefits would be retroactive to June and last through November.
New senator to help end filibuster
The defeat of the GOP filibuster is considered assured. The move requires 60 votes, a mark Senate Democrats will reach Tuesday after their newest member, Carte Goodwin of West Virginia, is sworn in to take the place of the late Sen. Robert Byrd. A key vote will take place minutes after Goodwin takes his place.
Nonetheless, Obama sought to increase pressure on Republicans on Monday, appearing in the White House Rose Garden to press his election-year message that the GOP is blocking financial help to struggling Americans.
“A partisan minority in the Senate has used parliamentary maneuvers to block a vote, denying millions of people who are out of work much-needed relief,” Obama said in the Rose Garden.
Obama appeared with a trio of unemployed Americans to demonstrate the personal toll of legislative inaction. Senate Republicans, citing concerns about deficit spending, have invoked the filibuster three times to block passage of an aid bill.
Having Obama weigh in on the Senate fight illustrates the partisan divide and could help to buffer Democrats from voters’ kitchen table anxieties as economists forecast a lagging recovery.
It also highlighted the economic questions underlying the issue of jobless benefits as parties debate the effect of jobless benefits on the economy and on the federal deficit.
“The same people who didn’t have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are now saying we shouldn’t offer relief to middle-class Americans like Jim or Leslie or Denise, who really need help,” Obama said as he told their stories.
Republicans insist they are not opposed to jobless aid — they only want to pay for it without loading up the national debt. Republicans, however, also have wondered aloud whether unemployment checks keep people from work.
A disincentive to seek work?
“Continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work,” Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona said during a floor debate this spring.
Republican Rep. Tom Price of Georgia said Monday that some economists have warned there could be a “moral hazard” in prolonged aid to jobless Americans.
But Obama rapped lawmakers “who are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job.”
Across the U.S., economists have said there are now five unemployed people for every available job. The average length of joblessness since the current downturn began has been eight months — greater than any previous downturn in more than 50 years, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
