House ponders just when to wind down unemployment benefits

[The Northerner]

The House has extended unemployment insurance approximately three times this year, but discussions have begun on how to wind down the benefit.

“There is a sense that the economy is recovering and this is not a new entitlement,” Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) told The Hill, adding, “We need to get down to the business of hearing some congressional deliberations in terms of winding down the long-term extensions of unemployment.”

The House on Friday passed a jobs bill that extends unemployment insurance through November, which adds approximately $40 billion to the deficit. Pomeroy said the measure’s cost created more anxiety for members when compared to April, which was the last time Congress extended the benefit.

“Support for this extension of unemployment compensation relief had a different level of support this time,” he said. “There was a lot more discussion.”

The Senate still has to approve the extension. It is expected to do after the Memorial Day recess. Still, Democrats in that chamber are troubled by the continuation of relief and wonder how many more extensions they can afford given the historically high deficit.

“I think it's time we figure out how we wind down unemployment in the future so people begin to have some kind of notice,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said this week.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/100649-house-ponders-when-to-cut-unemployment-benefits

[Vinca]

1. How about winding it down when they bring our jobs back from China?

[Peregrine Took]

2. How about when they spend a trillion dollars on this economy and not the

ever frigging war machine? What have we "got" for our trillion dollars?

[indepat]

3. The House should wind down unemployment benefits when they wind down the effects of the financial

meltdown and depression they largely created by deregulation, et al, coupled with a laizze-faire approach to governance most members have espoused: to wit, acting as a corporatist Congress rather than representatives of we the people. :P

[LWolf]

4. Wind it down when everyone who wants a job has a good one.

I don't know where that "sense of recovery" is happening, but it sure as hell isn't in my state.