The U.S. Senate failed to extend benefits Tuesday for thousands of Americans nearing the end of their unemployment checks.
For Florida, that means about 106,000 unemployed workers will lose out on unemployment benefits after this week, with an additional 40,845 losing their benefits each following week, unless the benefits are extended.
Republicans, including Sen. George LeMieux, who helped kill a similar bill in September, balked at the measures unfunded $56.4 billion price tag. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., tried in vain to tack on an amendment to fund the bill with cuts to other programs.
LeMieux blamed Democrats for the bills failure.
The only reason the benefits are expiring is because Senate Democrats objected to an extension, again, (Tuesday) night. (Tuesday), Senate Republicans offered an extension of these benefits, complete with offsets to pay for the benefits, and Democrats objected, LeMieux said.
Some Democrats latched on to a Department of Labor report that showed for every single dollar spent on unemployment, $2 are reinvested in the economy. But deficit spending is going out of style, and cost-cutting is in.
President Barack Obama revealed his plan earlier this week to freeze the wages of federal nondefense employees, saving an estimated $60 billion over 10 years. The $56.4 billion cost of extending unemployment benefits would nearly wipe out those savings before they were attained.
With the holiday season just beginning, some are hoping a compromise can be reached so that families in need wont suffer.
Some charities in Florida are bracing for an added strain on their resources if the benefits arent extended.
Now with the unemployment benefits running out its just going to add another layer on what we already do, said Dulcinea Cuellar, director of public relations for the Salvation Army of Florida.
According to Cuellar, the Salvation Army has seen as much as a 65 percent rise in first-time visitors in some areas.
Were seeing -- for the first time ever -- people who used to be $25 or $50 donors come in and ask for help for themselves, Cuellar said.
Some news reports have suggested a compromise on extending unemployment benefits could be tied to the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts. The tax cut extension, generally favored for all income levels by Republicans and only those making less than $250,000 by Democrats, was one of the main topics at President Obamas meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday.
For workers receiving unemployment benefits, federal assistance kicks in after they have exhausted the allotted 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits. In states with high unemployment (like Florida), they become eligible for as much as 99 extra weeks of benefits.
There are currently four levels of benefits after state benefits run out, and the Senate bill would have added a fifth level to extend benefits through February.
Even those not in danger of immediately losing their benefits, however, could soon be affected. The federal additional compensation of $25 on each weekly unemployment check is set to expire on Dec. 11.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
