President Obama is likely to call on members of Congress to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, according to numerous reports.
The proposal, which could reopen the debate over unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, comes less than year after a contentious debate that left congressional Democrats disappointed with an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts.
Mr. Obama will reportedly call on Congress to offset the cost of the short-term jobs measures by raising tax revenue in later years. This would be part of a long-term deficit reduction package, including spending and entitlement cuts as well as revenue increases, according to sources close to the White House. The president is expected to call for continuing a payroll tax cut for workers and jobless benefits for the unemployed. Some Republicans oppose extending the payroll tax cut, calling it an unproven job creator that will only add to the nation’s massive debt. The tax cut extension is set to expire at the end of the year.
Mr. Obama is expected to present his plans in an address to Congress on Thursday as unemployment remains at 9.1 percent more than two years after the end of the nation’s worst recession since the Great Depression.
The latest extension of unemployment benefits would keep millions of unemployed from slipping into poverty and is likely to boost consumer spending, which would create 200,000 jobs next year.
It remains unclear whether House Republicans will support the call for extending unemployment benefits.
Writing in a letter addressed to Mr. Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor noted, “While it is important that we continue to debate and discuss our different approaches to job creation … we should not approach this as an all-or-nothing situation.”
