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(Bloomberg News) A bill to
extend jobless benefits for three months was defeated today in the U.S.
House, increasing the odds that some of the nation’s long-term
unemployed will start losing aid.
The measure
fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval under an
expedited process. The vote on the bill was 258 in favor, 154 opposed.
Republican
lawmakers complained that the bill’s $12 billion cost would be added to
the government’s budget deficit. They demanded offsetting savings
elsewhere in the budget.
The vote was a
replay of a partisan dispute earlier this year that led to benefits
being cut off for some jobless people for more than a month. Aid again
is set to expire November 30 for some of the unemployed.
No firm number
of those who would be affected was available, though Representative
Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the House Ways and
Means committee, estimated almost 2 million Americans could see their
aid cut off by the end of this year if Congress does not act.
The nation’s unemployment rate in October was 9.6%.
Congress will
be out of session next week for the Thanksgiving holiday, which means
lawmakers will have little time to find agreement by the end of this
month.
“This bill is
like déjà vu all over again, and not in a good way,” said
Representative Charles Boustany, a Louisiana Republican. “We all want
to help those in need but the American people also know someone has to
pay when government spends money, and it shouldn’t be our children and
grandchildren.”
Levin said, “I
don’t see how we can go home for Thanksgiving when as a result of a
failure of benefits, hundreds of thousands of people may not have a
turkey on their table because they can’t afford it.”
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