WASHINGTON — The Senate’s unexpected vote on Tuesday to advance legislation extending expired unemployment benefits touched off delicate negotiations to secure final passage in the chamber, even as Republicans and Democrats warily eyed the political motives behind the efforts.þþThe three-month extension of benefits passed with no room to spare, on a vote of 60 to 37, and some of the six Republicans who voted yes made clear that they wanted the $6.4 billion cost paid for through cuts elsewhere in the budget.þþStill, even getting the Senate on to the bill was a victory for President Obama and Democratic leaders, who have tried for weeks to steer away from health care and budget wrangling and onto pocketbook issues, which they say they will use to try to frame the 2014 elections. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, hailed the vote as a shift in “the tectonic plates of our politics.”þþRepublican leaders accused Democrats of manufacturing a political issue, hoping that the unemployment bill fails at Republican hands. Mr. Schumer said he feared that Republicans allowed the bill to go forward only to steer Democrats into a “cul-de-sac” or a “Mexican standoff” in which each side would offer its own measures to pay for the benefits but neither would compromise.þþBut leaders in both parties expressed openness to a negotiated settlement, and Democrats gave little indication that they would press for a quick vote. “Now the serious negotiations have to start,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire.þþSenator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said he would wait for Republicans to approach him with proposals to pay for the extension, and Democrats said they were on strong enough political ground to pick which cuts were “reasonable.”þþSenator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, offered a glimpse of the stalemate that could develop. He suggested that the bill be paid for by a one-year reprieve from the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that uninsured people buy health insurance or face a tax penalty, as well as the reversal of a controversial measure in the budget that slows the growth of veterans’ benefits. Mr. Reid waved that off as a “nonstarter.”þþLess partisan suggestions were also floated. Ms. Collins proposed that after a year, benefits should be linked to enrollment in job-training programs, a suggestion that she said Mr. Obama seemed to consider.þþBut the issue of extending unemployment benefits, and a separate push to raise the minimum wage, could easily turn into campaign themes. Senator Mark S. Kirk, Republican of Illinois, said Democrats wanted “to have Republicans vote no, so they can bash them in the next election.”þþAnd Democrats did not exactly deny that. Representative Steve Israel of New York, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said, “If the Republicans refuse to pass unemployment insurance and cling to their opposition to increasing the minimum wage, these will be bookend issues for 2014.”
Source: NY Times
