Bye Bye Jobless Benefits:

 Senate Dems, GOP Play Blame Game

June 24, 2010 7:03 PM

 ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe, Z. Byron Wolf & Jonathan Karl report: 

The long-term unemployed of America will now have to go without their jobless benefits. Senate Democrats failed to get past a procedural vote tonight on a broad-based bill to extend a grab-bag of expiring social and tax measures. Afterwards, a defeated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that after eight weeks of pursuing the measure Democrats will now move on to other measures.

The final vote tally was 57-41, with Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson voting against the bill and Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska & Robert Byrd of West Virginia not voting. 

“If there were ever an example that is clear and direct that this is the party of no, this is it,” Reid said of Republicans at a press conference after the vote. “We have done everything we could to try to get a few Republican votes.” 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained the Republicans’ opposition by pointing to the fact that it would have tacked $35 billion onto the deficit despite GOP suggestions to use stimulus funds to offset the costs.  

“This extension would be fully paid using the very same stimulus funds that Democrats just voted — almost unanimously — to redirect for these purposes,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “If the Democrats object to extending these programs using their own stimulus offset to pay for them, then they'll be saying loud and clear that their commitment to deficit spending trumps their desire to help the unemployed.”

People who have been receiving jobless benefits for at least 99 consecutive weeks will now have to go without those benefits. Democrats estimate there are around one million people who fall into that category.

***

While there is no good news on Capitol Hill tonight for the long-term unemployed, at least there’s a positive development for Medicare doctors: They’re about to get paid.

Last week Congress failed to avert a 21 percent pay cut for them. The Senate last Friday passed a measure to avert the pay hit, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – upset that the measure had been extracted from the wider grab-bag bill – shot down the “doc fix.” 

"I see no reason to pass this inadequate bill until we see jobs legislation coming out of the Senate,” she said in a paper statement last Friday. “House Democrats are saying to Republicans in the Senate: show us the jobs!" 

But today Pelosi relented and said she might bring the isolated “doc fix” to the House floor today. 

“That is something we are considering, and we may do that this evening,” she said. 

It’s not as much as Pelosi wanted – even today she reiterated her demand to Senate Republicans, “Show us the jobs!” – but something, it seems, is better than nothing. 

The “doc fix” would retroactively undo the 21 percent pay cut and give the docs a 2.2 percent pay raise. The benefits ran out at the beginning of the month.

-Matthew Jaffe, Z. Byron Wolf & Jonathan Karl