Third version of Extenders bill proposed.

Senate Proposes Third Version of Extenders Bill

In an on-going effort to find the sixty votes needed to pass the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (HR 4213), the tax ‘extenders’ bill that includes a range of investments in job training and worker support programs, Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) introduced yet another version of the bill late Wednesday night. 

In order to reduce the overall cost of the bill, the latest version would reduce the enhanced federal Medicaid funding to states (FMAP) included in earlier versions of the bill from about $24 billion to about $16 billion. The remaining FMAP funding would be paid for by reducing spending on other programs, mainly by eliminating the increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as Food Stamps) benefits enacted in 2009 as part of the Recovery Act, saving more than $9.5 billion.  A previous proposal to eliminate the Federal Additional Compensation (FAC) program, originally authorized as part of a range of unemployment insurance benefits under the Recovery Act and providing an additional $25 in weekly unemployment assistance for qualifying individuals, remains in the bill. 

Currently, other key workforce development provisions – including $1 billion in funding for summer jobs programs for youth; expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Community College and Career Training Grant Program to include individuals who are eligible (or are likely to be eligible) for unemployment insurance (UI), or who have exhausted their UI benefits; and an extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund through September 2011, plus an additional $2.5 billion for the program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 – remain in the bill. 

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill shortly. While Senate Leadership had hoped that by further reducing the cost of the bill they could attract the votes of at least three additional moderates – Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska have been heavily targeted – at this time it seems unlike that the current version of the bill will pass.  If the bill fails again, it is unclear how the Senate will proceed.  National Skills Coalition will continue to monitor this legislation and provide updates as new information becomes available.