Your Washington Desk:
Isakson Co-Sponsors Bill to Pay for Unemployment Insurance Extension
U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today joined seven of his Republican colleagues in introducing the Responsible Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2014, S. 1931.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, and has garnered the support of Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Dan Coats, R-Ind. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., and John Hoeven, N.D.
The senators’ legislation would fully pay for an extension of unemployment insurance benefits for three months. The bill also repeals recent cuts in the military retiree cost-of-living adjustment included in December’s budget agreement.
“I am proud to join several of my Senate Republican colleagues in introducing this legislation today to continue our efforts to pay for an extension of unemployment insurance and to protect our military from cuts to their retirement. Over the past several weeks, we have–in good faith–offered several solutions with our latest proposal incorporating the Majority Leader’s ideas. It’s unfortunate that the Majority Leader has rejected outright our proposal and is putting politics above good policy for the American people. I encourage the Majority Leader to reverse course and to work with us on a solution to protect the unemployed and military retirees in our states,” said Isakson.
The bill is based on a package that Heller and these seven Republicans filed earlier this week as a way to pay for extending unemployment benefits during consideration of S. 1845. Following the Senate Majority’s rejection of that alternative, the Senators introduced the legislation as a stand-alone bill.
Additional details of the Responsible Unemployment Compensation Act of 2014:
-Repeals military retirement cost-of-living reduction included in December’s budget agreement.
-Fully offsets the three-month extension by spreading savings proposed by the Majority across the current 10-year budget window. This legislation exempts Medicare providers from further cuts and includes specific language to ensure that sequestration of defense resources is not increased.
-Reduces weeks of eligibility for emergency unemployment tiers 1 and 2, which reduces total state and federal unemployment from 73 weeks to 57 weeks.
-Eliminates overlapping payments for unemployment insurance benefits and Social Security disability benefits.
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