WASHINGTON — The Senate failed to
move forward on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term
unemployed on Thursday, leaving it unlikely that Congress would approve the
measure soon and dealing a setback to President Obama’s economic agenda.
The vote was 55-to-42, falling
short of the 60-vote threshold to break a Republican filibuster effort.
Republicans and Democrats, many
from the nation’s most economically depressed states, had been trying to reach a
solution that would allow people who have exhausted their unemployment insurance
to continue receiving benefits as long as the government offset the $6 billion
cost.
Ultimately, how to pay for the
program proved too big a hurdle for senators to overcome.
“We’ve given them everything they
wanted. Paid for,” said Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, flashing his
irritation at Republicans who blocked the bill.
He said Democrats would keep
pushing to extend the benefits, which expired at the end of last year, leaving
more than 1.3 million Americans cut off. That number has since grown to more
than 1.7 million.
Democrats hope to turn the issue
into an election-year cudgel and have been blaming Republicans for ignoring
people who are out of work. Republicans have balked at that as political
smoke.
“We know it’s a political game,”
said Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah. “We know they’d like to bring it up every
three months and bash Republicans with it.”
Mr. Obama has repeatedly pressed
Congress to extend the program, an emergency measure enacted during the
recession to provide up to 47 weeks of supplemental payments to the long-term
unemployed.
But even if the Senate had moved
forward, getting any extension through the Republican-controlled House was going
to be considerably difficult. Speaker John A. Boenher has said he will entertain
a bill only if it was paid for and could stimulate job growth.
Some of his more conservative
members, who said the extension would only create more debt for future
generations to deal with, were even more hesitant.
“The perception that I get from
the Senate right now is, ‘Times are tough. We should make times tougher on our
kids to make it easier on us, and then feel better,’ ” said Representative
James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma. “And I think that’s just not a
philosophy I’m willing to support.”