Senate Appropriations and Activity Update
The Senate on Thursday evening took up the ninth of its 12 fiscal 2010 spending bills, Military Construction-VA, after passing its eighth appropriations measure, Commerce-Justice-Science.
Additional Activity and Hearing
Unemployment Insurance Benefits. The Senate voted unanimously to provide up to 14 weeks of additional emergency unemployment insurance benefits to all states, and up to 20 weeks in states with three-month average unemployment rates of 8.5 percent or higher. The Senate attached to this bill an extension of the homebuyer tax credit, expanding it to $6,500 for first-time homebuyers to buy a new primary residence if they have lived in their current house for at least five of the previous eight years.
Energy / Climate Change. Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved climate-change legislation on November 5 without amendments and over the objections of Republicans, who had boycotted the proceedings while seeking more cost analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Larger Democratic Congressional Majority. Democrats in November 3 special elections won two House seats. In the upstate New York district that had been held by Republican John McHugh, who is now secretary of the Army, Democrat Bill Owens defeated Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman. In California, Democrat John Garamendi defeated Republican David Harmer. Democrats expanded their majority to 258-177, the largest margin for either party since Democrats had 258 seats in 1993.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related posts:
- What the Defeat of the Jobs Bill in the Senate Means for States, the Economy and Millions of Americans
- Today’s Unemployment Crisis by the Numbers
- Ask Anita: How Can Congresspersons Seriously Use the Deficit as an Excuse to Vote Against Umemployment Insurance?
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