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                                 - EESI Team

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On The Hill 

Congress and the President extend unemployment benefits, but postpone work on a stimulus package until the new administration is instituted. Both Republican and Democrat senators met to discuss health care reform legislation, and a possible vote in regard to the auto bailout is scheduled for the week of December 8.

House and Senate lawmakers postponed work on a sweeping stimulus package until the new Congress and administration take over next year.  Congress on Thursday did pass smaller scale economic relief by approving an extension of unemployment benefits by seven weeks for workers whose benefits have run out, or by 13 weeks in states with jobless rates above six percent in the past three months.  President Bush signed the measure into law today.  Democrats in Congress are expected to make an economic stimulus plan the first order of business when they return in early January 2009.  The starting point for the package likely will be the $61 billion package (HR 7110) the House passed on September 26th.  That measure provided funding for infrastructure projects, state Medicaid programs and food stamps.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has also said that it will have a middle-class tax cut component to it as well.  President-elect Obama is said to be on board with the congressional package and has indicated a willingness to set aside concerns about deficit spending in the short term to restore stability to the economic.

Key Senate health care players from both sides of the aisle met for the first time on Wednesday to discuss their plans for a health care overhaul bill next week.  Those who participated include Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee; Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), second-ranking Democrat on HELP; Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT); HELP ranking member Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY); Senate Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA); Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); and Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV).  Kennedy also announced that members of HELP will assist in developing a bill and getting it through the Senate, including Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).  Congress is expected to take the lead in designing a health care bill, while closely consulting with the new administration.  Senate Democrats are linking health care reform to economic recovery, making the point that health care costs make up a growing portion of personal and business spending.

House and Senate leaders said on Thursday that Congress may come back into session the week of December 8th to vote on a rescue package for the automotive industry. 

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