Dems Intro Unemployment Benefits Extension Package

House Democrats have introduced a measure to extend jobless insurance to help the more than 6.1 million unemployed Americans whose benefits will expire at the end of next year.

“The problem we have in America today of joblessness is not the lack of willingness or wanting to find work. It’s lack of work,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) told reporters. “Congress has never permitted extended unemployment benefits to expire when the unemployment rate was anywhere close to the current 9.1 percent.” 

The Democrats said that without their bill, as many as 2.1 million out-of-work Americans would lose their benefits by mid-February.

The bill will provide extended unemployment coverage in 2012 to those actively seeking work and would also provide assistance to states in order to maintain their own unemployment insurance programs. The item is part of President Obama’s American Jobs Act, and is valued at roughly $45 billion.

Hill Republicans have so far opposed efforts to pass the jobs package due to the way Democrats have proposed paying for it — through tax hikes on the wealthy.

“The Republicans thought the right thing for us to do to be responsible is to say ‘In God We Trust,’” said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). “Well, the people we are talking about can’t pay their bills with that. They trust God. The problem is they don’t trust us.”

When asked by TRNS how the committee plans to present the bill in an appealing way to House Republicans, they responded that they will be flexible in merging it with other legislation.

“We’re trying to have a narrow bill. We’re open to reforms and ideas,” Doggett said.

Pelosi Counters GOP Accusations

By Philip Bunnell

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) held a briefing Friday and countered many of the claims made by House Republicans in another briefing held earlier in the day.

“It’s been day 185 of the Republican majority in the Congress and we have still not seen one jobs bill come to the floor,” said Pelosi.  “This is obviously reflected in jobs number this morning.”  The Democrats, on the other hand, “have put probably twenty job initiatives on the floor and the Republicans have rejected every one of them,” declared Pelosi.

The former Speaker of the House also pointed to the number of bills signed into law during the Democratic majority versus the Republican majority as an explanation for the dismal unemployment numbers.

House Republicans had held a briefing a few hours earlier where they claimed to have passed nine job creating initiatives, all of which were ignored or stalled in the Democrat controlled Senate.

Pelosi described the cuts proposed by the GOP as “austerity measures” several times, and cautioned that things would only get worse if “we continue down a path that is cost shifting to the states in order to reduce the federal budget.”

The California Democrat was very critical of the catch 22 that GOP cuts would allegedly produce.  Pelosi said that CEOs told her that “they will create jobs when they have customers.”  However, Pelosi warned, “when you fire a policeman, a firefighter, and a teacher, and a public worker because of austerity programs, you are not only hurting the safety of your neighborhoods, the education of your children … you are reducing the number of consumers.”

Pelosi did say that she was “optimistic that we can come together.”  Striving for a tone of conciliation, the Minority Leader said that “I don’t like to have a situation where we’re saying, well, you need our votes so you better have this in the bill.”  An issue like the deficit, “a big deal,” should rise above partisan bickering, said Pelosi.

Top White House Economic Adviser Says Unemployment Likely To Stay Elevated

Travis Martinez - University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer testified before a joint economic committee Thursday that although the nation's economy is moving into “recovery phase,” it is likely that the overall unemployment rate will remain painfully weak through 2010.

“As we [U.S. economy] enter the fourth quarter with the unemployment nearing 10 percent, it is likely to remain severely elevated,” said Romer.

Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) expressed deep concerns for the future of jobs and the labor market. During her opening statement, Maloney said that she can see signs of recovery, but it's contributing little to no help for the labor market.

“I am deeply concerned about the state of our labor market, as I have been since the start of this recession. GDP growth is of little comfort to the millions who have lost their jobs,” she said.

Romer reminded the committee that analysts have predicted that the Recovery Act will have its greatest impact on economic growth in the second and third quarters of this year. By mid-2010, she explained, fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to growth. However, Romer said she believes that the country has survived the low point of the recession, adding that there is concise evidence that the policies implemented by the Obama administration are working.

“If GDP growth for the third quarter is indeed positive, as anticipated, this would be strong evidence that the economic recovery is underway,” said Romer.