Republicans are gaining ground in their effort to get Congress to pay for extending unemployment benefits, with a growing number in their party siding with the effort to block spending that adds to the nation’s staggering debt.
The Senate on Monday cleared a procedural hurdle that will pave the way for a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits after a two-week standoff with fiscally conservative Republicans who did not want the bill’s $9 billion cost to be added to the deficit.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., stood in the way of the measure, the second time this year a member of the GOP has blocked a benefits bill. But unlike Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who incurred the wrath of his own party last month for his one-man blockade of a short-term benefits extension bill, Coburn has the backing of the GOP, with 33 out of 41 voting with him against bringing the bill to the Senate floor. Just 18 senators voted with Bunning against the March extension.
Coburn cited poll numbers showing a majority of voters are worried about deficit spending.
“They already get it,” Coburn said. “They are wondering when we are going to catch up to them.”
The Senate is expected to begin debate Tuesday on the bill, which extends unemployment benefits for 30 days and includes a short-term provision to prevent Medicare reimbursements for doctors from plummeting.
Republicans say they are in favor of the relief provisions, but want to cut spending elsewhere to pay for it. Coburn has suggested a 1 percent reduction in overall federal spending.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who last month criticized Bunning over his decision to block the March extension, is now backing Coburn. She voted to move the latest extension bill to the floor but she said she wants an agreement that will pay for the bill, which could come in the form of an amendment Tuesday.
“We cannot keep passing every month another short-term, unpaid extension,” Collins said. The Democrats, she said, “just keep spending and spending.”
Democrats worked to portray the GOP as unsympathetic toward struggling Americans.
“If Republicans continue blocking unemployment assistance, 1 million Americans will lose that lifeline by the end of this month,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said voting to block the measure would hurt residents in his state because the bill includes an extension of the federal flood insurance program that will enable residents and small businesses to recover from April flooding.
“One of the consequences of this political jousting back and forth is we sort of lose sight of the effects on our constituents,” Reed said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah., said the unpaid-for spending will hurt younger generations.
“I think the American people are starting to realize they are getting sold down the river by overspending and if we don’t put the kibosh on spending that is not backed up by revenues, younger people’s future is going to be gone.”
