The 274–137 vote came just one day after the House failed to pass the bill under special rules known as the "suspension calendar," which required a two-thirds majority for passage. Thursday\'s vote only required a simple majority.
Among the Minnesota delegation, Democratic Representatives Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, James Oberstar, Collin Peterson and Tim Walz and Republican Representative Jim Ramstad voted in favor of the legislation. Republicans Michele Bachmann and John Kline opposed it.
"An extension of unemployment benefits is critical for Minnesota families struggling to deal with increased gas and food prices, while searching for a new job," McCollum said. "Given the surge in the nation\'s unemployment rate, passing this legislation would provide much needed help to 3.8 million Americans – including 70,000 Minnesota families."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the bill is one of the best ways to stimulate the economy.
"Extending unemployment benefits not only helps those who are looking for work, it stimulates the economy," she said. "According to the Congressional Budget Office, it is one of the most cost-effective and fast-acting ways to stimulate the economy because the money is spent quickly."
Last month, the House and Senate voted to extend benefits as part of a supplemental spending bill for the Iraq war. But a combination of circumstances, including President Bush\'s threat to veto the war bill if the jobless aid was included, led Democratic House leaders to bring the extended benefits bill to the floor separately. The Democratic leadership still has not decided whether to fold the unemployment extension bill into the larger supplemental spending bill.
Bush claims unemployment is not high enough and the economy not bad enough to justify extending UI for workers who can\'t find new jobs, and his administration claims that extending benefits "would reduce the incentive for workers to find new employment."
Yet the total number of long-term unemployed is higher than it was the past two times Congress enacted federal extension programs (October 1991 and February 2002). In addition, joblessness is growing. May saw the biggest one-month jump in the unemployment rate in more than 20 years.
Earlier this year, the AFL-CIO urged Congress to include a UI extension in an economic stimulus package, but it was dropped from the legislation after Bush said he would veto the bill if it included the extension.
James Parks writes for the AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org This article also includes reporting by Workday editor Barb Kucera.
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The 274–137 vote came just one day after the House failed to pass the bill under special rules known as the "suspension calendar," which required a two-thirds majority for passage. Thursday\’s vote only required a simple majority.
Among the Minnesota delegation, Democratic Representatives Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, James Oberstar, Collin Peterson and Tim Walz and Republican Representative Jim Ramstad voted in favor of the legislation. Republicans Michele Bachmann and John Kline opposed it.
"An extension of unemployment benefits is critical for Minnesota families struggling to deal with increased gas and food prices, while searching for a new job," McCollum said. "Given the surge in the nation\’s unemployment rate, passing this legislation would provide much needed help to 3.8 million Americans – including 70,000 Minnesota families."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the bill is one of the best ways to stimulate the economy.
"Extending unemployment benefits not only helps those who are looking for work, it stimulates the economy," she said. "According to the Congressional Budget Office, it is one of the most cost-effective and fast-acting ways to stimulate the economy because the money is spent quickly."
Last month, the House and Senate voted to extend benefits as part of a supplemental spending bill for the Iraq war. But a combination of circumstances, including President Bush\’s threat to veto the war bill if the jobless aid was included, led Democratic House leaders to bring the extended benefits bill to the floor separately. The Democratic leadership still has not decided whether to fold the unemployment extension bill into the larger supplemental spending bill.
Bush claims unemployment is not high enough and the economy not bad enough to justify extending UI for workers who can\’t find new jobs, and his administration claims that extending benefits "would reduce the incentive for workers to find new employment."
Yet the total number of long-term unemployed is higher than it was the past two times Congress enacted federal extension programs (October 1991 and February 2002). In addition, joblessness is growing. May saw the biggest one-month jump in the unemployment rate in more than 20 years.
Earlier this year, the AFL-CIO urged Congress to include a UI extension in an economic stimulus package, but it was dropped from the legislation after Bush said he would veto the bill if it included the extension.
James Parks writes for the AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org This article also includes reporting by Workday editor Barb Kucera.