House passes compromise jobless benefit hike

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed compromise legislation embraced by the Bush administration to extend government benefits for the long-term unemployed.

By a vote of 416-12, the House approved a 13-week extension of benefits for workers who exhaust the 26 weeks of payments they normally receive while they are unemployed and looking for work.

The move came as officials searched for ways to ease the impact of a U.S. economic downturn that has led to growing unemployment over the past year.

Last month, the House passed a more generous package sought by Democrats that would have provided even more help to the jobless in states with the highest unemployment rates during the current slowdown. That measure was blocked by Republicans in Congress and the White House.

The unemployment provision was attached to an Iraq war-funding bill that Congress is expected to deliver to Bush in coming days.

The added benefits were estimated to end up costing $8.2 billion, according to the House Appropriations Committee.

Support for extending the benefits grew after the government announced a sharp increase in joblessness and a May U.S. unemployment rate of 5.5 percent.

"The number of Americans looking for work has grown by 800,000 over the last year and the number of American jobs has declined by 260,000 since the beginning of 2008," said an Appropriations Committee fact sheet.

Most Republicans initially resisted the longer benefits, which Democrats said would also help the economy by boosting consumer spending.

Before supporting the initiative, Republicans insisted that the additional benefit checks could only go to those who had worked at least 20 weeks in the five quarters before losing their jobs.

"It now requires that the recipient earn the benefit," said Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the senior Republican on the appropriations panel.

Democrats said some who have lost their jobs in a bad economy, such as women who recently returned to the workforce, would be unfairly penalized by the restriction.

Working with White House negotiators, Republicans also had a Democratic provision removed from the bill that would have given 26 weeks of additional benefits in states with the highest unemployment rates, instead of the 13-week increase for all states.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, editing by David Alexander)