Senate Democrats combine jobless benefits, homebuyer tax credit in effort to get GOP support

Senate GOP again kills jobless aid extension
Washington — For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate have successfully filibustered a bill to continue providing Unemployment checks to millions of people. But since Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine voted with Democrats to advance the $33 Billion measure, its passage seems assured next month once a replacement is named for Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who died on Monday. Democrats would then have a Filibuster-proof Majority for the bill. About...

Senate combines jobless benefits, homebuyer credit
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are working on a new way to jump-start their stalled Election-year jobs agenda while saving Unemployment Benefits for hundreds of thousands of Laid-off workers. The plan is to create one Bill that combines the Unemployment Benefits with an extension of a popular Tax Credit for people who buy new homes. Under current law, homebuyers who signed purchase agreements by April 30 must close on their new homes by Wednesday to qualify for Credits of up to $8,000....

Senate combines jobless benefits, homebuyer credit
Washington (AP) - Senate Democrats are working on a new way to jump-start their stalled Election-year jobs agenda while saving Unemployment Benefits for hundreds of thousands of Laid-off workers. The plan is to create one Bill that combines the Unemployment Benefits with an extension of a popular Tax Credit for people who buy new homes. Under current law, homebuyers who signed purchase agreements by April 30 must close on their new homes by Wednesday to qualify for Credits of up to $8,000....

1.3 million unemployed won't get benefits restored
Washington (AP) - More than 1.3 million Laid-off workers won't get their Unemployment Benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day. An additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six months stand to lose their Benefits each week, unless Congress acts. For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered a bill Wednesday night to continue providing Unemployment checks to people who been Laid Off...

Senate GOP again kills jobless aid extension
Washington (AP) - For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate have successfully filibustered a bill to continue providing Unemployment checks to millions of people. But since Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine voted with Democrats to advance the $33 Billion measure, its passage seems assured next month once a replacement is named for Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who died on Monday. Democrats would then have a Filibuster-proof Majority for the bill. About...

Jobless aid stalls in Senate; home buyers get more time
The Senate failed once again late Wednesday to advance a plan to restore jobless Benefits for people out of work more than six months, leaving millions of unemployed workers in limbo until after the July 4 recess. The measure fell one vote shy of the 60 needed to end a Republican Filibuster. Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) said he was prepared to provide that vote, but that Democrats had rejected his request to pay for at least half of the $34 Billion measure with unspent funds from last...

Daily Digest for June 30
June 30 Wednesday, 06/30/2010 - 8:39 am by Tim Price | Post a Comment --> Wednesday, 06/30/2010 - 8:39 am by Tim Price | Post a Comment What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical Debates. Bank Tax to Be Killed to Win Passage of Financial Overhaul ( CNBC ) Unable to round up enough votes to proceed with FinReg, Democrats have returned the Bill to conference in order to craft a plan to pay for it without scaring off Republican supporters. Fixing Wall Street,...

House passes financial overhaul; Senate leaders postpone vote
The House approved new Financial Regulations Wednesday, but Senate Leaders postponed a vote on the Bill, preventing the landmark Legislation from reaching President Obama's desk until at least mid-July. House members voted 237 to 192 to approve the final version of the Bill, which emerged from the House-Senate conference Committee earlier in the week. The sweeping Legislation would, among other things, set up an independent consumer bureau within the Federal Reserve to protect borrowers from...

Krugman: Another Depression Is Likely
Paul Krugman thinks we’re headed for a third depression — in fact, it may already have begun: Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in Economic history that were widely described as "depressions" at the time: the Years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the Years of mass Unemployment that followed the Financial Crisis of 1929-31. [...] We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third...

A bailout won't solve California's budget deficit " nor will it fix D.C.
Over the past couple of years, Washington has thrown out Bailout after Bailout at the National economy.

House votes to extend tax credit on new home purchases 3 months
Washington — Home Buyers would get an extra three months to complete their purchases and qualify for a generous Tax Credit under a bill overwhelmingly passed by the House yesterday. Under current law, Buyers who signed purchase agreements by April 30 have until today to close on the sale to qualify for Tax Credits of up to $8,000. The bill would give Buyers until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases. The extended deadline only applies to people who signed purchase agreements by April 30....

55 percent of U.S. adults have felt recession's sting
Washington — More than half of U.S. workers have either been unemployed or experienced reductions in hours or wages since the Recession began in December 2007, according to a new report. The worst economic slump since the 1930s has affected 55 percent of adults in the labor force, the Washington-based Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization, said Wednesday. The survey found that 32 percent of employees were jobless at some point during the past 30 months. The economic shock has...

Income-tax battle expected to be costly, maybe nasty
OLYMPIA — It appears all but certain that voters will be asked to help bail out the State Budget with an Income Tax that targets high-income earners. Initiative 1098 supporters are expected to turn in more than 360,000 signatures Thursday morning, which should be more than enough to qualify the measure for the November ballot. The upcoming campaign for I-1098 has all the makings of an expensive, and potentially ugly, battle between the business community and a coalition of labor and...

Democrats One Vote Short on Jobless Benefits Bill in Senate
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that Democrats are one vote short of the 60 they need to advance an extension of federal Unemployment Benefits.

After the Bailouts, Washington's the Boss
By BOB DAVIS , DEBORAH SOLOMON and JON HILSENRATH Associated Press President Obama, with Congressional Financial committee leaders and his economic team in February. In 2008 and 2009, Washington strove to save The Economy. In 2010, Americans will get a clearer picture of how Washington has changed The Economy. Only as the Recession recedes will it become fully evident how permanently the state's role has expanded and whether, as a consequence, a new, hybrid strain of American Capitalism is...

Elena Kagan skates through Senate panel questioning, with one embarrassing slip
Reporting from Washington — After completing two days of Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that was alert, thoughtful, and punctuated with flashes of wit, Elena Kagan now seems almost certain to become the nation's 112th Justice on the Supreme Court. But one minor slip — on a question about, of all things, fruits and vegetables — has given Republicans at least one chance to benefit politically from the Hearings. As she demonstrated in the two days of Testimony...

A bailout won't solve California's budget deficit " nor will it fix D.C.
Over the past couple of years, Washington has thrown out Bailout after Bailout at the National economy.

Reid introduces new standalone unemployment extension measure
Photo: Wikipedia Here we go again. Last night, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Senate Majority Leader and the head of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced a new Unemployment extension bill. It is not actually strictly standalone: It includes an extension of the period in which homebuyers can close on a house and claim the homebuyer Tax Credit, a change agreed to in the House yesterday, and other provisions. "Folks in Montana and across the nation are...

Unemployment extension gets new life in Senate
Tuesday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., introduced a new Unemployment extension bill. It is not actually strictly stand alone: It includes an extension of the period in which homebuyers can close on a house and claim the homebuyer Tax Credit, a change agreed to in the U.S. House Tuesday, and other provisions. "Folks in Montana and across the nation are struggling to find jobs in this tough economy, and every day...

Joe Biden does the Blitzkreig Bop
What a smart-ass. Joe Biden joins earlier Democrats FDR and Harry Truman in violating Godwin’s Law , though without the gravitas of actually, you know, winning World War II along the way: Vice President Biden is out with an alarmed e-mail cash appeal warning that the GOP will mount a "blitzkrieg" against Democrats in the fall. Comparing GOP tactics to the fast-striking forces of Nazi Germany, Biden warns in a message sent by the DCCC today: "As things heat up, you can...

Senate combines jobless benefits, homebuyer credit
Source: AP WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats are working on a new way to jump-start their stalled election-year jobs agenda while saving Unemployment Benefits for hundreds of thousands of Laid-off workers. The plan is to create one bill that combines the Unemployment Benefits with an extension of a popular Tax Credit for people who buy new homes. Under current law, homebuyers who signed purchase agreements by April 30 must close on their new homes by Wednesday to qualify for Credits of up to...

State jobless benefits get push
State Labor Commissioner Colleen Gardner briefs the media about the Governor's bill to increase Unemployment payments Wednesday outside her office in Albany. more... PHOTO GALLERY State Labor Commissioner Colleen Gardner says Wednesday Unemployment Benefits in the state need the boost outlined in the Governor's plan. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union) State jobless Benefits get push

Into the Wayback Machine?
Brad DeLong wonders if we heading into the WABAC (or, "wayback") machine , and if we are, why we don't visit a better time period than 1937-1938: It's 1937 Again!, by Brad DeLong : David Leonhardt: Betting That Cutting Spending Won't Derail Recovery : The world's rich countries are now conducting a dangerous experiment. They are repeating an Economic Policy out of the 1930s - starting to Cut spending and raise taxes before a Recovery is assured - and hoping...

Execs, regulators testify on derivatives' role
Washington (AP) - A former executive of bailed-out Insurance company American International Group Inc. says if he had been allowed to keep his job, he could have saved Taxpayers a bundle. “I think I would have negotiated a much better deal for the Taxpayer than what the Taxpayer got,” Joseph Cassano, the former chief executive of AIG’s Financial Products Division, told a special panel investigating the economic Crisis. Taxpayers rescued AIG to the tune of $182 Billion -...

Execs, regulators testify on derivatives' role
Washington (AP) - A former executive of bailed-out Insurance company American International Group Inc. says if he had been allowed to keep his job, he could have saved Taxpayers a bundle. "I think I would have negotiated a much better deal for the Taxpayer than what the Taxpayer got," Joseph Cassano, the former chief executive of AIG's Financial Products Division, told a special panel investigating the economic Crisis. Taxpayers rescued AIG to the tune of $182 Billion—the biggest of the...