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 "I don't think we've reached that point where we've said, ‘This is
it, take it or leave it,'" Senator Richard Durbin told the ABC
program "This Week," when pressed on whether his party would insist
on including jobless aid in a final deal.
Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, said that based on what
he has heard from Senator Patty Murray, the lead Democratic
negotiator on the budget, the fiscal talks are making progress and
moving in the right direction.
The House of Representatives and Senate budget panel, created after
the government shutdown in October, is discussing a two-year accord
that would ease the impact of across-the-board spending cuts known
as the "sequester" and lower the near-term risk of another damaging
fiscal showdown.
Durbin's comments signaled some flexibility on the issue of jobless
aid. House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said
last week that Democrats "cannot support" a budget deal without an
extension of unemployment insurance. Pelosi later clarified that she
would like to see jobless benefits included in the budget deal but
that she would be open to the idea of passing it under separate
legislation.
Speaking on ABC on Sunday, Republican Senator Rob Portman, who is a
member of the negotiating committee, expressed optimism about a
fiscal deal, saying he hoped it could come together by the end of
the week.
An extension of emergency unemployment benefits is a priority for
President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress.
Democrats have warned that without an extension, federal benefits
will expire for some 1.3 million Americans in the week of December
28.
Democrats see a budget deal as one of the best legislative vehicles
for passing an extension of the jobless aid, though they have said
there are other options they could consider.
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Federal unemployment benefits kick in for out-of-work Americans who
have exhausted their state unemployment aid, which in many states
runs out after 26 weeks.
The emergency federal aid began during the Great Recession in 2008
and has been renewed every year since.
Though government figures on Friday showed the U.S. unemployment
rate fell to a five-year low of 7 percent in November, many
Democrats say the U.S. job market is still far from robust and
long-term unemployment remains a problem for many Americans.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner has said
that if Obama has a plan for extending unemployment benefits, he
would "entertain" it.
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a
possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said an extension
of jobless benefits beyond the traditional 26 weeks could work
against the unemployed.
He cited studies that show that the longer workers have been
unemployed, the harder it is for them to find jobs.
"When you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks,
you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed
group in our economy," Paul said. "And it really — while it seems
good, it actually does a disservice to the people you're trying to
help."
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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