Checks soon on way to jobless

the Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Federal checks could start flowing again as early as next week to millions of jobless people who lost up to seven weeks of unemployment benefits in a congressional standoff.

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a restoration of benefits for people who have been out of work for six months or more. Congress approved the measure earlier in the day.

The move ended an interruption that cut off payments averaging about $300 a week to 2½ million people who have been unable to find work in the nation's long and deep recession.

At stake are up to 73 weeks of federally financed benefits for people who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state jobless benefits. About half of the approximately 5 million people in the program have had their benefits cut off since its authorization expired June 2.

They are eligible for lump-sum retroactive payments that are typically delivered directly to their bank accounts or credited to state-issued debit cards. Many states have encouraged beneficiaries to keep updating their paperwork in hopes of speeding payments once the program was restored.

In states such as Pennsylvania and New York, the back payments should go out next week, officials said. In others, such as Nevada and North Carolina, it might take a few weeks for all of those eligible to receive benefits.

Thursday's 272-152 House vote sent the bill to the White House.

" Americans who are fighting to find a good job and support their families will finally get the support they need to get back on their feet during these tough economic times," Obama said in a statement issued after signing the measure.

The House action came less than 24 hours after a mostly party-line Senate vote Wednesday on the measure, which is one piece of a larger Democratic jobs agenda that has mostly collapsed after months of battles with Republicans.

The measure is what remains of a Democratic effort launched in February to renew elements of last year's economic stimulus bill. But GOP opposition forced Democrats to drop $24 billion to help state governments avoid layoffs and higher taxes, a package of expired tax cuts and a health insurance subsidy for the unemployed.

Wrangling over that measure consumed about four months. The jobless benefits portion picked up enough GOP support in the Senate -- Maine moderates Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe -- after it was broken off as a stand-alone bill. It would have passed last month except for the death of Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. His replacement, Democrat Carte Goodwin, cast the 60th vote Tuesday to defeat a GOP filibuster.

Most Republicans opposed the measure because it would add $34 billion to a national debt that has hit $13 trillion. They argued that the bill should have been paid for with cuts to other programs, such as unspent money from last year's economic stimulus bill, which is earning mixed grades from voters as unemployment stands at 9.5 percent nationwide.

Thirty-one House Republicans, about one in six, voted for the measure Thursday, while 10 Democrats opposed it.

Opposition marked a change of heart for many Republicans who had voted for deficit-financed unemployment benefits in the past, including twice during George W. Bush's administration. Earlier this year, Republicans twice allowed temporary unemployment measures to pass without asking for a roll call vote.

Opinion polls show that deficits and debt are of concern to voters, especially Republicans' conservative supporters and the Tea Party activists whose support the GOP is courting in hopes of retaking control of Congress.

Republicans winced in February when Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., blocked a temporary benefits measure for several days, only to relent amid a wave of bad publicity. But a few weeks later, all but a handful of Republicans were opposed to renewing benefits unless they were paid for with cuts elsewhere in the $3.7 trillion federal budget.

Democrats responded that many economists say jobless benefits boost the economy because most beneficiaries spend them immediately. But such effects are likely to be modest when measured against a $14.6 trillion economy.

The program is being renewed through the end of November.