Bipartisan group of senators reaches deal on reauthorizing emergency unemployment benefits

A group of 10 senators — five Democrats and five Republicans — has reached a deal to reauthorize emergency unemployment benefits for five months, Rhode Island’s Sen. Jack Reed, one of the architects of the plan, announced Thursday afternoon.

“There are a lot of good people looking for work and I am pleased we’re finally able to reach a strong, bipartisan consensus to get them some help,” Reed, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Restoring this much needed economic lifeline will help job seekers, boost our economy, and provide a little certainty to families, businesses, and the markets that Congress is capable of coming together to do the right thing.”

The nearly $9.7-billion plan will go straight to the Senate floor for a vote, which has not been scheduled. If it passes there, it faces uncertain prospects in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

“We’re not at the finish line yet, but this is a bipartisan breakthrough,” Reed said. “I join Rhode Islanders and millions of people across the country in calling on Congress to pass this essential, common-sense legislation without further delay.”

Reed and Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican from Nevada who also spearheaded the compromise, said the plan would be retroactive to Dec. 28 for eligible beneficiaries. They estimated that more than 2 million job-seeking Americans have lost emergency unemployment insurance coverage since that date.

Reed noted that that included 8,000 Rhode Islanders who would have received more than $20 million in unemployment checks.

The average weekly unemployment benefit paid in Rhode Island was $354 in 2013, higher than the national average of $310, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Those figures are for both the state unemployment benefits that people received and the federal benefits, which kicked in here for people who had exhausted their 26 weeks of state benefits.

The proposal is fully paid-for using a combination of offsets that includes extending “pension smoothing” provisions from the 2012 highway bill, which were set to phase out this year, and extending customs user fees through 2024, the senators said in their statement.

The bill also would deny unemployment insurance payments to people who made $1 million or more in the preceding year.

Reed and Heller expressed confidence that they would have more than the 60 votes needed to advance the bill in the event of a filibuster.

“I am so glad that both Democrats and Republicans have come together on a proposal that will finally give Americans certainty about their unemployment benefits,” Heller said in a statement. “This deal extends these important benefits for five months, pays for them, and brings buy-in from both sides of the aisle.”

The bill includes language that bars people who made $1 million or more last year from collecting unemployment benefits and that strengthens programs to assist jobseekers.

Republican senators cosponsoring the bill are Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mark Kirk of Illinois. Democrats are Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Dick Durbin of Illinois.