COMMENTARY | The unemployment extension reauthorization battle is heating up again. Again, Congress seems to be waiting until the last minute to pass much needed legislation that will ensure that benefits continue to be made available to millions of Americans currently jobless, victims of a sluggish economy and a stagnant jobs market. Again, Congress seems to be setting up battle lines with Democrats pressing for passage of the extensions and Republicans only willing to allow passage if they get some sort of concession for their cooperation. And again, according to OpenCongress.org, there are over two million of the long-term unemployed, those individuals that unemployment extensions are designed to assist, set to watch their benefits expire by mid-February if some form of reauthorization is not hammered out.
Feel like it's deju vu all over again? It is, just a year removed. Only the particulars have changed. The goals of both parties remain the same. Democrats want the unemployment extensions to advance their political agenda. Republicans want some kind of concession to advance their political agenda.
Last year, Republicans held out past the expiration date for extension benefits in early December. Wanting offsets to the extension proposal (not an unreasonable demand) in order for benefits to be paid for, Republicans were also adamant that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for America's wealthiest would not be the method of payment (which was unreasonable). In the end, as most knew would happen, the unemployment extension package passed with a 13-month extension (through to the end of 2011), while Democrats allowed the Bush tax cuts to extend for another two years.
Since most things that get done in Washington occur because of leverage, it would appear that Democrats had lost a crucial bargaining tool to offset the unemployment extension reauthorization. But the takeover of Congress by an intractable group of Tea Party Republicans after the 2010 midterm elections forced congressional gridlock in budgetary matters throughout the year and a debt ceiling deal at the end of July resulted in a radical spending cut plan to social programs and the defense budget to be triggered if a bipartisan "super committee" could not agree on $1.2 trillion in cuts.
They could not. They announced last week that they were unable to reach agreement.
So with the Democrats regaining some leverage (defense spending favored by Republicans), Congress is now setting up battle lines as the unemployment extension deadline nears. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has been attempting to put together a package, according to Politico, that allows for the reauthorization of benefits for a year while at the same time targeting and alleviating defense spending cuts, something the more hawkish Republicans can get behind.
Legislators will eventually pass something. Benefits will be reauthorized. The opposing sides just have to play a little partisan politics and blame each other for obstruction for a few weeks.
There are no comments yet