By Joan Crigger
January 13, 2003

On January 8, President Bush signed into law an extension of unemployment benefits for about 2.5 million people at a cost of $7.2 billion just hours after House passage of the legislation (S 23). The House bill was passed 416 to 4. The Senate passed the bill by voice vote on January 7 allowing both Houses to meet their promise to get the legislation completed during the first week of the 108th Congress.

The legislation would provide extended benefits to about 800,000 people who had not received all 13 weeks of added federal benefits under a bill that expired December 28. The bill provides no coverage for an estimated one million workers who remain unemployed and have exhausted their state benefits and the emergency federal extension.

The bill provides that those who exhaust their state benefits through May 31 will also be able to get an additional 13 weeks of federal benefits. The bill would also continue coverage beyond May 31 for those who qualify under a phase-out provision that was not part of the program that expired on December 28.

The expired legislation (PL107-157) was enacted in March and provided 13 weeks of federal unemployment insurance benefits for workers who had already exhausted their standard 26 weeks of state benefits.

This new legislation is a partial response to the U.S. Conference of Mayors letter sent to congressional leadership in December urging Congress to "support a full extension of extended benefits," but does not respond to our request that Congress extend benefits to "workers who have already exhausted their federal unemployment benefits." In the letter, Conference President Boston Mayor President Thomas M. Menino said, "We must respond quickly to the 8.5 million unemployed Americans, many of whom are experiencing long-term unemployment which is at its highest level since 1993."

During debate in the House, Democrats argued for an additional 13 weeks of coverage for those workers who have already exhausted all of their benefits for a total of 26 weeks of federally funded benefits.

In the Senate, the bill was offered in a bipartisan effort sponsored by Senators Peter G. Fitzgerald (IL), Don Nickles (OK) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY). During the Senate debate, Clinton proposed to offer an amendment that would allow an additional 13 weeks of benefits (mirroring the House bill), but Republicans refused to consent to consideration of the amendment.