Now there adjourning for the year to sit by their firesides drinking brandy waiting for the cook to whip up Thanksgiving fixings and Christmas dinners and not caring a whit about those who elected them to office. Nice guys.
Congress quits for year with finishing homeland security done, no action on unemployment
ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer Friday, November 22, 2002
(11-22) 11:33 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
The 107th Congress adjourned for the year Friday after sending President Bush legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security but failing to prevent nearly 1 million people from losing unemployment benefits right after Christmas.
Its chamber almost deserted, the House used a voice vote to rubber-stamp a final version of the homeland bill that contained technical changes made by the Senate.
The measure, which became one of Bush's top priorities, will combine the Customs Service, Coast Guard and 20 other agencies into a single Cabinet-level department for battling terror. White House officials said Bush planned to sign the bill into law Monday.
The House took no action to preserve federal jobless benefits that will expire Dec. 28. An estimated 820,000 people will lose unemployment coverage that day, and 95,000 more per week will follow.
Democrats briefly threatened to block passage of the homeland measure until next week but in the end relented. They complained that lawmakers should not go home for the year without first extending the unemployment benefits.
"Congress is here insisting on playing Scrooge at Christmas time when we ought to be showing a little mercy," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.
Outgoing House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said GOP leaders intended to get back to the question of jobless compensation when the Republican-controlled 108th Congress convenes in January.
In March, Congress created a 13-week extension in federal jobless benefits for laid-off workers who have used up the maximum 26 weeks of coverage they generally receive from the states. That 13-week extension starts expiring Dec. 28.
The Republican-led House and Democratic-run Senate approved extensions of the program last week, the Senate's being more generous, but they could not agree on a compromise version.
The Senate version was written jointly by Republicans and Democrats, and they faulted the House GOP for the stalemate. Democrats publicly asked Bush to intervene, but White House officials said he left it up to lawmakers to resolve.
The House initially approved the homeland measure on Nov. 13. But it was forced to take it up again because the Senate version had a different bill number and made about 10 technical changes, such as different section numbers. The House and Senate must approve identical bills before they can be sent to the president for his signature.
The Senate approved the legislation Tuesday, a day before it adjourned for the year.
Most House members left town for the year last week.
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The homeland security bill is H.R. 5005. |
