Reed’s bill to restore extended unemployment benefits clears first Senate hurdle

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., won his first tough skirmish Tuesday to restore extended federal unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans, including nearly 5,000 Rhode Islanders still struggling to find jobs after the Great Recession.

But he acknowledged that getting 60 senators to agree to open debate on the issue, during the Senate’s procedural vote, was a “huge effort” and that actually restoring the benefits will be an uphill battle.

Tuesday’s vote means the Senate has allowed debate to begin on the White House-backed bill that would extend, for three months, the benefits that were cut on Dec. 28.

The legislation must still win approval in the Senate, and the House of Representatives would also need to approve extending the federal benefits. Ultimately, Reed wants to extend the benefits for a full year.

“The journey is not over yet, by a long shot,” Reed said in a telephone interview. “We’ve got to find a way to get to the final passage.”

Opponents continue to argue that Congress must find ways to pay for the benefits and also find ways to create stable, high-paying jobs.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who voted against bringing up the issue for debate, said he and his rank and file would seek changes so the bill’s cost would not add to deficits. Senate Democrats have so far rejected that approach, although there were signs they would eventually yield. Among the Republican proposals is a delay in the requirement for millions of Americans to purchase health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, a step that would potentially save billions of dollars in federal subsidies.

The cost to extend the unemployment benefits, according to Reed, is estimated at $6.5 billion for three months and about $25 billion for the full year — money from the federal budget, not individual state budgets.

President Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to do “the common-sense thing.”

“Congress should pass this right away, and I’ll sign it right away,” he said at the White House.

An actual Senate vote on restoring the benefits is expected soon, but still unscheduled, Reed said. That’s up to Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, whom Reed said is juggling the omnibus appropriations bill, which must be approved by Jan. 15, another procedural vote on flood insurance and a few other key issues.

Senators voted 60 to 37 Tuesday morning, with 6 Republicans siding with the Democrats, including Sen. Dean Heller, the Nevada senator who signed on as a co-sponsor with Reed.

Both Reed and Heller represent the states virtually tied for the nation’s highest unemployment rate of 9.0 percent. Reed said gaining Heller’s support was key to gathering bipartisan support.

One of the Republicans who voted on Tuesday to proceed with the debate — Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio — issued a statement saying he did so with the hopes that the Senate would agree to pay for the extension and work to improve the program so it better connects the unemployed with available jobs.

Reed said he thinks the elected officials began hearing more from their constituents when Congress went home for the holiday break about how difficult it has been for the long-term unemployed to find jobs in a still punishing economy. By Tuesday, the conversation had shifted from the Republican argument that the unemployment benefits are a disservice to workers to Tuesday’s comments from the majority saying the benefits are important and help workers and the economy, Reed said.

“The whole conversation shifted — from ‘We’re shutting this down’ to ‘This is a valuable program, but we want to consider it in the whole context of budgets,’ ” Reed said. “That’s a huge shift, and that didn’t come about without effort.”

Reed said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., a ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, will carry the fight in the House.