Aid to States in Jobs Bill Stalls in Senate
June 18, 2010
The fight to help cash-strapped states and public services stalled in the Senate on Thursday as it failed to achieve the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate and bring to a vote a second Senate version of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213), which included $24 billion in additional federal money to aid states.
The aid is a six-month extension of increased federal Medicaid matching funds which was authorized in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. All Senate Democratic Caucus members present voted to close off debate, except Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) who supported the filibuster. All Republican Senators supported the filibuster.
In March, Sens. Lieberman, Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), George Voinovich (R-OH), Scott Brown (R-MA), Christopher Bond (R-MO), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) all voted to cut off debate on a similar jobs bill, which included the lifeline funding to states in fiscal crisis.
The jobs bill voted upon on Thursday was already a scaled-back version of the legislation. It cut an extra $25 from weekly unemployment benefits checks and postponed Medicare payment cuts to doctors through November instead of for 19 months. The failure of these Senators to vote to end the filibuster and move forward with a vote on the jobs bill will mean that Senate Democratic leadership will be forced to scale the bill back further, putting the $24 billion in state aid and the economy at risk.
Economists like Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Economy.com, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warn that pulling back on state aid now, while the economy is fragile, could risk plunging the economy back into a recession.
Even though most states are relying on these desperately needed funds to close ever growing budget shortfalls, all Republicans and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) voted in support of a Republican alternative bill offered by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) which did not include the needed $24 billion in state aid.
All AFSCME members are urged to ask their Senators to fight to preserve the $24 billion in new federal funds for state Medicaid programs.
