The House of Representatives has passed a bill that will give those receiving unemployment benefits an extra 13 weeks of payments. The bill was passed by a wide enough margin to make sure that they will be able to override the Presidents veto, which is sure to come.

The administration is not opposed to any extension of unemployment benefits, what the administration wants is for the extension to be only in the states with the highest unemployment. The bill that was passed by the House, the
Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act, H.R. 5749, gives the extended coverage to all states. They did make one concession to the states with the highest rates. They will get an additional 13 weeks on top of the 13 weeks that every state gets.

According to Speaker Pelosi, there is plenty of money available in the Federal unemployment trust funds.

The economy is in a mess, to put it bluntly. Unemployment is rising at the fastest rate since 1986, half a percent to 5.5 in the last month alone. This bill is not a final answer, not by a long shot. But to the millions of unemployed, it will mean keeping heads above water, just barely, until someone steps forward and takes the actions necessary to get our economy back on track. And there will be no quick fix to the economic problem. The cost of oil, the sub prime mortgage debacle which has resulted in too many houses on the market and too few people able to purchase and the cost of the War in Iraq are just some of the contributing factors to what most now agree are leading us into a recession and some saying we are there already.

The question is can private industry right itself without the help of the federal government, or at least without a lot of help, or does the government, the Congress in particular whose responsibility it is to formulate legislation, need to take the lead in a big way?

Believe it or not, the Congress and the Administration did agree on a bill that has the hope of boosting the economy. The Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People act does more than give a stimulus check. The bill has the power to help those in danger of losing their homes because of the mortgage crisis, help small business and hopefully create 500.000 jobs by the end of this year. It all sounds good, but this is just the first step. Our economy is much more complicated, entwined with the world economy, and it will take a new administration that will make this the number one issue and work with Congress to get us on the long road back to being the world economic power.

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