Obama to sign homebuyer, jobless bill

The White House signing ceremony Friday comes a day after the House of Representatives, displaying rare bipartisan agreement over the seriousness of the jobless situation, voted 403-12 for the measure. The Senate approved it unanimously on Wednesday.

The White House said the bill, which also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses, builds on provisions in the US$787 billion stimulus package enacted last February that aim at spurring job creation.

Lawmakers stressed that the fourth unemployment benefit extension in the past 18 months was necessary because initial signs of economic recovery have not been reflected in the job market.

“The truth is that long-term unemployment remains at its highest rate since we began measuring it in 1948,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. About one-third of the 15 million people out of work have gone at least six months without a job.

The bill would provide another 14 weeks of benefits to all out-of-work people who have exhausted their benefits or will do so by the end of the year, estimated at nearly 2 million. Those in states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above get an additional six weeks.

The unemployment rate is now 9.8 percent and economists are predicting that there will be tens of thousands of new job losses as new job market figures are released.

The extra 20 weeks could push the maximum a person in a high unemployment state could receive to 99 weeks, the most in history. Unemployment checks generally are for about US$300 a week.

The tax credits, added by the Senate, center on extending the popular US$8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers that was included in the stimulus package. The credit, which was to expire at the end of this month, will be available through next June as long as the buyer signs a binding contract by the end of April.

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