WASHINGTON — The House rejected a bill Tuesday to extend unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for long stretches.
Payments will continue to phase out for more than 200,000 people a week without an extension. The last extension expired at the end of May. House Democrats said more than 1 million people have already lost benefits.
Congressional Democrats have been trying for weeks to pass the extension as part of a larger tax and spending package, but the larger bill stalled in the Senate. On Tuesday, House Democrats brought up a standalone bill on unemployment benefits.
Democrats brought up the bill under a special procedure in which no amendments were allowed and debate was limited. Under the procedure, the bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The vote was 261-155, short of the two-thirds needed.
Nearly all Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while most Republicans opposed it.
The measure would have provided up to 99 weekly unemployment checks averaging $335 to people whose 26 weeks of state-paid benefits have run out. The benefits would have been available through the end of November, at a cost of $33.9 billion. There were no offsets in the bill, so the cost would have added to the budget deficit.
“The American people know it isn’t right to simply add the cost of this spending to our already overdrawn national credit card,” said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee. “They want to help those in need but also know that someone has to pay when government spends money.”
It’s a tough vote for some lawmakers who want to help constituents hit hard by the recession but are wary of being labeled big spenders. The economy is starting to pick up, but unemployment is still high as the nation continues to struggle from the loss of more than 8 million jobs. At the same time, angst over deficit spending is growing as midterm congressional elections near in November.