Senate nears passage of jobless-benefits bill
Source: AP-Excite
By DAVID ESPO
WASHINGTON (AP) - Capping a three-month struggle, the Senate closed in Monday on passage of election-year legislation to restore jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed that expired late last year.
Approval of the measure would send it to a hostile reception in the House, where majority Republicans generally oppose it.
The bill was the first major piece of legislation that Democrats sent to the floor of the Senate when Congress convened early in the year, the linchpin of a broader campaign-season agenda meant to showcase concern for men and women who are doing poorly in an era of economic disparity between rich and poor.
In the months since, the Democrats have alternately pummeled Republicans for holding up passage and made concessions in an effort to gain support from enough GOP lawmakers to overcome a filibuster. Chief among those concessions was an agreement to pay the $9.6 billion cost of the five-month bill by making offsetting spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.
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This Feb. 6, 2014 file photo shows Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. speaking during a news conference on unemployment insurance on Capitol Hill in Washington. Capping a three-month struggle, the Senate closed in Monday on passage of election-year legislation to restore jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed that expired late last year. Approval would send the legislation to a hostile reception in the House, where majority Republicans generally oppose it. Even before the Senate vote, Reed and Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., the bill’s leading supporters, said they were willing to consider changes in hopes of securing passage in a highly reluctant House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
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