"Extenders" fight shapes up for February.

In one of their final moves before leaving for the holidays last month, Congress approved an “extenders” bill (P.L. 112-78) that temporarily reauthorized a range of federal policies and programs, including expanded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, the employee payroll tax holiday, and the TANF block grant to states. However, the bill only extends authorization through the end of February, setting up what is expected to be the next major showdown between the House and Senate.

Passage of the current extension was far from a sure thing. The House on December 13 passed a longer-term bill that would have extended authorization for key programs through the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, but included a number of controversial provisions, including an extension of a pay freeze for federal employees, requirements that President Obama expedite consideration of the Keystone XL gas pipeline project, and a requirement that states adopt policies to restrict the use of TANF benefits at casinos, liquor stores, or strip clubs.

The House bill also would have made significant changes to the UI program, reducing the maximum duration for UI benefits from 99 weeks to 59 weeks, and authorizing states to deduct $5 from weekly benefits for all UI recipients to pay for mandatory reemployment services. The bill would have required any individual seeking UI benefits to have at least a high school diploma or recognized equivalent, or be enrolled and making satisfactory progress in classes leading to such a credential.

Unwilling to accept most of these proposals, the Senate instead voted 89-10 to adopt the two-month stopgap—which includes the Keystone pipeline language but does not include the House UI provisions—and adjourned for the holiday recess. The House was then faced with a choice between accepting the Senate bill or allowing programs to expire at the end of the month. House leaders sought to pressure the Senate to return and vote on the House bill, but in the end agreed to accept the Senate version after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) agreed to appoint conferees to negotiate a long-term extenders bill.

With the outcome viewed as a political defeat for House Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) will be under pressure from his caucus to aggressively pursue UI eligibility changes and other House-passed provisions during conference negotiations. The Senate is not expected to support such changes, but with the temporary extension set to expire at the end of February, it is possible that fiscal conservatives will have greater leverage to enforce changes as part of a final deal.

National Skills Coalition is strongly opposed to any efforts to impose arbitrary educational requirements on UI recipients. It is estimated that nearly 300,000 unemployed workers would be impacted by the minimum educational requirements under the House bill in just the first three months, with affected applicants required to either enroll in adult education and training, or forego the benefits they need to support their families. Given the steep declines in federal funding for adult education and job training services—adult education state grants have been cut by more than 20 percent in inflation-adjusted terms over the last decade, while the FY 2011 and 2012 appropriations bills have cut more than $1.3 billion in funding from key Department of Labor and Education programs—the proposed changes would effectively eliminate access to UI benefits for hundreds of thousands of jobseekers while also placing additional strains on an already overburdened workforce system. We look forward to working with policymakers to ensure that any extension of federal UI benefits does not include this provision, or other provisions that would limit access to benefits for dislocated and low-skilled workers. We will continue to provide updates on this process as new information becomes available.