Unemployment Extension Set for Passage Next Week

It appears increasingly likely that Senators will pass the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act (H.R. 3548) sometime next week.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) indicated this morning that if Monday’s procedural (cloture) motion is adopted on the bill, House and Senate action could be completed by Tuesday which would allow the measure to be sent to President Obama for his signature.

Since the Senate is offering a substitute amendment to the originally-passed House bill, House members must vote one more time after the Senate completes action before work on the legislation can end.  If Senators adopt cloture on Monday, at least one more vote on final passage will likely be necessary.

According to Congressional Quarterly, the Senate’s version would “provide 14 additional weeks of unemployment aid in all 50 states.”

People in states with jobless rates exceeding 8.5 percent would get an additional six weeks of benefits. Currently, 27 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, would qualify as high-unemployment states.

Also included in the Senate’s bill is an agreement “covering the home-buying credit and an expansion of the net operating loss carryback break for businesses.”

The current first-time homebuyer credit of up to $8,000 was created in the stimulus law enacted early this year and is set to expire Nov. 30. A compromise version is expected to reduce the maximum tax credit to about $7200, boost income eligibility limits for taxpayers hoping to claim the credit and make it available to existing home owners who’ve owned their homes at least five years.

The stimulus law also contained a net operating-loss carryback provision, but limited it to small businesses. Money-losing companies of all sizes have been pressing for an expansion of that measure all year. Under current law, qualifying businesses can apply this year’s losses to two prior years of taxable profits, obtaining immediate refunds. Businesses want to be able to apply current losses to five years’ prior profits.

In an effort to speed action on this bill, the Majority Leader has filled the “amendment tree.”  There’s a somewhat dated but excellent explanation of the “amendment tree” linked here.

Essentially, it prevents members from offering any amendments on the bill unless they are favored by Senator Reid.  He has agreement from House Democratic leaders to pass the unemployment extension with the Senate’s modifications listed above, so any additional amendments would threaten to kill the bill.

Update (11/2): A cloture motion on the bill has been adopted by a vote of 85-2.

Update (11/4): This bill has been passed by the Senate.

*Additional updates here.

(credit image – getty)

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