HOUSE OKS STIMULUS PACKAGE;
SEN. PANEL ADDS JOBLESS BENEFITS

By a 385-35 vote, the Democratic-run House rushed through on Jan. 29 a $146 billion “stimulus package,” with very little for workers outside of individual checks of up to $600 per person and $300 per child. But the story was different in the Senate where, even before labor lobbying occurred, the key Finance Committee decided to add extended jobless benefits--and that’s for starters.

The actions came as lawmakers pushed to meet a Feb. 15 deadline in hopes of rushing out the checks into peoples’ hands by May and staving off what would be the second recession under the reign of anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush.

They also came as the Center for Economic Policy and Research, analyzing records of prior slumps and their after-effects, predicted a Bush recession this year would be felt by workers, in terms of more joblessness and lower incomes, all the way through the 2012 presidential election. That’s in line with past recessions, including the first Bush recession, in 2001. Those slumps hurt workers a lot more and a lot longer than they hurt companies, CEPR said.

The House bill features the individual checks that Bush, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) worked out, and business tax cuts. Bush warned lawmakers in his State of the Union address not to “delay or derail” the deal. The Finance Committee didn’t listen. Its bipartisan vote expanded the bill.

Even before several labor legislative reps, led by AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel, visited with panel chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the senator had decided to include a key provision for workers that Pelosi dropped, said retired Laborers Legislative Director Don Kaniewski, who was in the delegation. “We just reinforced that,” he added. Other union reps included the Laborers and the Operating Engineers.

The provision Baucus restored extended jobless benefits for an extra 13 weeks, beyond their current 26-week maximum. There could be an additional extension after that for high-unemployment states–notably Michigan–where joblessness is at least 6%. Baucus’ panel also extended the checks to every tax filer, including the rich and low-income people who file returns but owe little or nothing. Baucus’ plan, which the panel approved on Jan. 30, reduced checks to $500 per adult and $300 per child, maximum.

“The proposal would create a new temporary extension of unemployment compensation that would entitle certain unemployed individuals to unemployment benefits that are not available under current law,” the Finance Committee analysis said.

“Individuals who exhausted all rights to regular compensation under state or federal law with respect to a benefit year” that ended before Feb. 1, 2007 “would be eligible for these additional benefits. The amount of the benefit would be the equivalent of the individual’s weekly regular unemployment compensation benefit,” the panel said.

“The terms and conditions of the state law for receipt of regular unemployment benefits would also apply to these benefits, except that the individual must have had 20 weeks of full-time insured employment or the equivalent in insured wages,” it added.

Some unions lobbied senators to add even more pro-worker provisions to the stimulus package.

“It is extremely disappointing to hear Congress is considering a band-aid, half-hearted solution to the economic crisis we’re facing,” AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said, in pushing for aid to budget-strapped states to help pay for Medicaid for workers and the poor.

“Congress will be making a big mistake if they pass an economic stimulus deal that ignores the needs of state and local governments. Rebate checks alone are not going to address the crisis facing families who rely on unemployment insurance, food stamps and Medicaid programs,” he added. Pelosi also dropped expansion of food stamps from the stimulus package. The Senate plans a vote after Feb. 5 on its bill.

McEntee said the entire impact of the individuals’ checks could be canceled because Bush is ready to issue new Medicaid rules that “are about to shift more costs to the states...when they can barely afford to meet current needs. State and local governments need immediate help or they will be forced to raise taxes or cut services.”

The AFL-CIO and AFSCME joined a 70-group coalition lobbying for $6 billion more in the stimulus package to pay for the Medicaid benefits.

Meanwhile, CEPR economists John Schmitt and Dean Baker said that even a mild recession this year would add 3.2 million workers to U.S. unemployment by 2010, while a severe recession would add 5.8 million people to the ranks of the jobless. The latest unemployment figures, for January, put the number of jobless at 7.576 million. Before the first Bush recession, in 2001, there were 5.956 million jobless.

The CEPR report, "What We're In For: Projected Economic Impacts of the Next Recession," said another Bush recession would also result in 4.7 million to 10.4 million more people in poverty, another 4.2 million people losing health insurance--pushing that number over 51 million, compared to 38 million when Bush took office--and “a drop in the inflation-adjusted median family income of $2,000-$3,700 per year.”

"For financial markets and employers recessions are fairly short-term events. For labor markets and workers, though, recessions have historically been long and painful,” Schmitt said. He added the impact of a Bush recession this year would extend --for workers--all the way through 2011 and possibly through the election in 2012.