With Goodwin in Office, Senate Ends Debate on Unemployment Extension

(July 20) -- After weeks of delay, the Senate has ended debate over a bill that will extend the previously expired federal unemployment aid for workers out of a job for six months or more. The cloture vote passed 60-40, with Carte Goodwin, the late Robert Byrd's interim replacement as West Virginia senator, casting the deciding vote.

Democrats were previously unable to break a Republican filibuster of the bill. Although the Democratic caucus did not win universal internal support -- Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson joining Republicans in opposing the legislation -- the Democrats were able to succeed with the support of Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, the two Republican senators from Maine.

On Monday, President Barack Obama stood alongside three unemployed Americans in the White House Rose Garden and urged Congress to push the unemployment extension through while also strongly criticizing Republicans for employing "parliamentary maneuvers" in their attempts to prevent the bill from passing.

Although this legislation, if passed, will offer much-needed relief for many unemployed workers, the bill does not include support for the "99ers," those out-of-work Americans who have been without a job for over 99 weeks and therefore no longer qualify for emergency federal benefits. Although "99ers" have petitioned for a "Tier 5" unemployment expansion to grant additional weeks of aid, Congress has not indicated that it will take up the cause.

Nor does the unemployment extension apply to those in states with unemployment rates below 8 percent. As figures released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show, idled workers in these 34 states will have to continue to seek relief from the job market itself.

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