Senate Clears Key Hurdle to Aiding Unemployed

 

The vote to expand unemployment benefits was 66-34, with eight Republicans, including newly-elected Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, joining the Democrats. One Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against the measure. - Photo Courtesy of Boston Herald

The Senate cleared a hurdle to extending unemployment benefits and health-care subsidies for the jobless until year’s end, the latest modest bipartisan success on jobs and the economy. This measure will continue to aid those looking for jobs in design and landscape fields.

The Senate bill extends eligibility for enhanced unemployment-insurance benefits and eligibility for tax credits for laid off workers who obtain health insurance through the Cobra program, both through year’s end.

Since Brown’s election, which cost the Democrats their 60-seat Senate filibuster-proof majority, Democrats have had a greater need to reach out to the GOP. In that spirit, the Democrats have pushed through a handful of small-scale measures aimed at reducing unemployment and helping out-of-work Americans, in each case joined by a handful of Republicans. ?EUR??,,????'?????<