Sunday Shows On Unemployment Benefits: _____________

Lawmakers are back in their districts this coming week. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said that he will push a three-month provision when the chamber returns. In the meantime, roughly 1.3 million Americans who had seen their benefits lapse in late December were left wondering if Congress would ever act.

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The only mention at all was during Press Pass on "Meet The Press," when Peter Alexander noted in a question to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Mich.) that right now “we have battles over unemployment insurance that appear for the moment to be going nowhere.” Ellison didn’t address the debate specifically in his response.

Sunday Shows On Unemployment Benefits: _____________

See also:
Republicans Explain They Filibustered Unemployment Aid On Principle

Other members of their party -- especially those among the half-dozen who tried to cut a deal to extend the insurance -- were more nuanced in their reasoning for blockading the Democratic bid to help the long-term jobless, about 70,000 of whom run out of benefits each week that Congress doesn't move to extend them.

But their reasoning still boiled down to principles that weighed heavier on their minds than thoughts of the people whose benefits they cut off, and who can't find jobs in the still-recovering economy. More than 1.3 million people who have been unemployed for over 6 months lost their federal benefits at the end of December. That number could rise to about 5 million by the end of the year if Congress fails to act.

Democrats initially proposed passing the aid without making cuts elsewhere in the budget, as the Senate has done repeatedly in the past. But with no Republicans willing to go along, they offered a compromise to pay for most of the cost by extending some sequestration cuts into 2024.