WASHINGTON—The Senate, after weeks of contentious debate, is poised to extend unemployment benefits Tuesday for more than 2.5 million Americans.
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The issue has become a flash point in the parties' attempts to define themselves for the fall election campaigns. Congress has voted six times since June 2008 to extend benefits, but Republican resistance has grown along with concerns about the deficit.
GOP senators say they want to help the jobless but that the extended benefits must be paid for so as not to add to the deficit. Democrats say the spending is justified, given the struggles of the long-term unemployed in a poor economy.
On Tuesday, Democrats are likely to get the 60 votes they need to extend the benefits through November. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans, are expected to support the measure, after Democrats agreed to drop unrelated items and trim the bill to $34 billion. Democrats had originally introduced a $120 billion bill that included such items as aid to cash-strapped states
The Maine Republicans would join 58 of the Senate's 59 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents in backing the bill.
Those will include Carte Goodwin, appointed by West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D., W.Va.). Mr. Goodwin will be sworn before the vote.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) is opposing the legislation.
If the extension is approved, unemployed workers in the hardest-hit states would again be able to draw up to 99 weeks of aid. That includes 26 weeks of basic aid offered by states, plus long-term federal payments. The expiration of the previous extension June 2 has had a rolling impact on the unemployed, as thousands exhausted their benefits each week.
With the unemployment rate at 9.5% and about 14.6 million people out of work, the White House signaled Monday that Congress would be asked to approve an additional extension of benefits in November. The midterm elections are Nov. 2.
"I think it's fair and safe to assume that we're not going to wake up at the end of November and find ourselves at a rate of employment that one would consider not to be still in an emergency," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said on the Senate floor Monday that Republicans were politicizing the issue. "They look at a crisis for families' budgets and see an opportunity for their political fortunes," Mr. Reid said. Mr. Reid faces a tough re-election fight in a state whose jobless rate just hit 14.2%.
Republicans say Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has offered an extension of unemployment benefits four times during the current debate, paid for from unused stimulus funds, but that Democrats have blocked his proposal.
"The only reason an extension of unemployment benefits hasn't passed is because Democrats have refused to move a bill that doesn't add to the debt," Mr. McConnell said.
President Barack Obama urged Congress on Monday to pass the extended benefits, saying lawmakers should "do what's right, not for the next election but for the middle class."
In addition to concerns about the deficit, some Republicans say unemployment benefits remove an incentive for the jobless to find work, an argument rejected by Mr. Obama on Monday.
Democrats say they agree the deficit needs to be cut, but that providing help to those who have lost jobs is a fiscal emergency.
"I'm supportive of the $30 billion in relief to people who got slammed, ripped apart, laid off through no fault of their own," said Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), who is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. "I'd like to pay for it and I'm willing to, but if it comes to a final vote, I would support it."
The House has already passed an unemployment-benefits extension. But because the Senate's version is different, it must do it again. The House is expected to approve the Senate's version Wednesday and send it to Mr. Obama for his signature.