Republicans: Compromise in Works for Unemployment Benefits and Tax Cuts

12/6/2010

Senate Republicans have indicated that a compromise may be in the works to extend federal unemployment insurance along with Bush-era tax cuts, according to an article in the Washington Post.

Both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator John Kyl told different interviewers over the weekend that they expect the tax cuts will be lengthened, in exchange for the extension of unemployment benefits that expired on November 30.

Democratic Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois admitted to the paper that the Republican proposal is being considered, adding that the tax cut extension would be a "non-starter" if unemployment benefits hadn't come into play.

"We're moving in that direction," Durbin told the Post of the compromise, although he said the idea of giving tax cuts to individuals making over $1 million a year is "unconscionable."

Without an extension of jobless benefits, approximately 1.6 million Americans will stop receiving unemployment insurance checks by Christmas, and another 6 million will lose them by the spring of next year, the article said.

The Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate increased to 9.8 percent in November, meaning there are currently 15.1 million unemployed people in the nation. 

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