On February 14, the House approved, 225-199, a Senate-passed bill (H.R. 622) that would extend unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks for laid-off workers (see The Source, 2/8/02) and amended the measure by attaching a tax stimulus package (H.R. 3529) that passed the House on December 20 (see The Source, 12/20/01).
The economic stimulus package would cost about $190 billion and would provide rebates of $300 to workers who did not qualify under the tax cut (P.L. 107-16) enacted last year. Unlike the Senate-passed unemployment benefits extension, the House bill would allow states to provide an extension of unemployment benefits when their employment rates exceed 4 percent in FY2002.
Additionally, the House approved, 213-206, a rule that did not allow the Democrats to offer an alternative to the stimulus package. The amended measure was sent back to the Senate for further consideration.
