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Congress set to clear aid to jobless, homebuyers tax credit

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is one vote away from sending the president legislation that continues aid to more than a million jobless people and extends tax breaks to hundreds of thousands of prospective homebuyers and struggling businesses.

The legislation, recognizing the lingering distresses of the recession, passed the Senate Wednesday on a 98-0 vote and could come up in the House as early as Thursday, sending it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the bill was "vital to Americans who have lost their jobs as a result of the deepest recession in over three-quarters of a century."

The bill, with a price tag of some $24 billion, would provide every American running out of unemployment insurance benefits this year with an additional 14 weeks. The out-of-work in states with jobless rates at 8.5 percent or greater would get six weeks on top of that.

It would also extend for seven months an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was enacted as part of the $787 billion stimulus package passed last February and is set to expire at the end of this month. The program would be expanded with a $6,500 credit for homebuyers who have lived in their current residences for five years.

Finally, it would allow businesses that have incurred losses in 2008 and 2009 to seek refunds for taxes paid on profits over the past five years.

The package, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a leader on the unemployment issue, will "help nearly 2 million Americans who are still unable to find work, protect small businesses struggling in this challenging economic climate and stimulate economic activity to help create jobs and grow our economy."

The extension would be the fourth since June of last year and could result in giving an out-of-work person in one of the harder-hit states up to 99 weeks of benefits, well above the previous record of 65 during the 1970s.

Supporters argued that this help was necessary when 15 million unemployed are competing for about 3 million jobs and 7,000 people are exhausting their benefits every day.

"There is no place today in the United States that does not see a serious crisis in unemployment," said Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, where the 13 percent unemployment rate exceeds the national rate of 9.8 percent.

The $2.4 billion cost of extending unemployment benefits is offset by extending through June 2011 the federal unemployment tax that employers pay for each employee.

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After this comes the $1.2 trillion health care bill, which will probably end up at $2 trillion. After this comes "cap and trade" with at least some billion dollar tag I'm sure. What's a few $100 billion here and there for the Democrats.

Gregory Hammond | 11/5/2009 - 8:32 PM - (Suggest Removal )

So it pays to be jobless or buy a house. What a joke this country has become. If all they are going to do is continue to extend benefits. A lot, not all but a lot of those jobless are just going to get comfy with no job and a little check.

Inspire business to hire and maybe that will change, Granted the work isn't there but if there is an incentive to help pay for that new employee I might be enticed to hire just to help out, If I have to do it all alone those employee will just have to wait until the economy picks up enough so that I can.

If uncle sam was to entice business to hire by helping pay for that employee for the first year that could take the place of those benefit payments that they are getting nothing for and help get the work force moving again.

Jay Johansen | 11/5/2009 - 9:50 AM - (Suggest Removal )

We're running out of fingers to stick in an increasingly leaky dike.

C.K. Bigoldi | 11/5/2009 - 7:44 AM - (Suggest Removal )

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