With a new Congress drawing near， Democrats and Republicans are busily designingcompeting economic stimulus packages. The Republicans are sure to offer tax cuts， theDemocrats——among other things——financial relief for the states. There is one measure，however， that would provide not only an immediate boost to the economy but also immediaterelief to those most in need. a carefully crafted extension of the federal unemploymentinsurance program. The Senate approved such an extension before it adjourned in November.The House of Representatives refused to go along. It was among the greatest failures of the107th Congress.
One consequence is that jobless benefits for an estimated 780000 Americans will abruptlystop tomorrow， even though most recipients have not yet exhausted their benefits. PresidentBush failed to show any leadership on this matter during the November Congress. Later， hefinally asked Congress to extend the program for these workers and to make the benefitseffective from Dec. 28.
That's not enough. The way unemployment insurance typically works is that statesprovide laidoff workers with 26 weeks of benefits， followed by 13 weeks of federal aid. UnderMr. Bush's scheme， federal benefits would be extended only for those who were alreadyreceiving them on Dec. 28. The extension would not cover the jobless workers who willexhaust their regular state-funded benefits after Dec. 28 an estimated 95，000 every week——but will receive no federal help unless the program is re-authorized. By the end of March， 1.2million workers could fall into this category.
The Senate saw this problem coming， and under the leadership of Hillary Rodham Clintonfor New York and Don Nickles of Oklahoma， passed a bill that would not only have coveredpeople already enrolled in the federal program but provided 13 weeks of assistance for thoselosing their state benefits in the new year. The House， for largely trivial reasons， refused togo along.
展开
