As several of you likely already know, the U.S. House of Representatives acted on an unemployment extension bill over a month ago, but it has since been stalled in the U.S. Senate.
I do not want to turn this blog into a political soap box, but it appears that both parties (Democrats and Republicans) in the Senate share blame for the delay on this - both parties have tried to attach amendments that are completely unrelated to unemployment or the economy in general to the bill.
There was earlier speculation that a vote may have come as early as late last week, but that was de-railed. Anyway, the Democrats appear to be taking the lead on attempting to get the bill passed this week.
Full disclosure: my UI benefits were exhausted this week, so I have a vested interest in this thing passing ASAP, LOL.
Since Florida is one of the states that has an unemployment rate of over 8.5%, Florida residents would be entitled to an additional 20 weeks of UI benefits under this bill. All states who have UI rates of under 8.5% would only get an additional 14 weeks.
The good news is that, once the Senate passes their version of the bill, the House will expedite voting on it - if the Senate passes it this week, the House will have it on the president's desk by early next week.
If you're interested, here are the URL links to email Florida's two U.S. Senators:
Senator LeMieux:
Senator Nelson:
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel did a more detailed write-up on this today, which can be found here:
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