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- BUSINESS, Page 70Business NotesUNEMPLOYMENTA Bit More Cushion
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- After two failed swings at trying to extend jobless benefits
- for nearly 3 million U.S. workers, Congress and President Bush
- finally agreed last week on a $5.3 billion compromise package
- that could give some of the unemployed new checks by
- Thanksgiving. The agreement would allow workers to collect up
- to 20 weeks of extra checks after they have used up their
- initial 26 weeks of benefits. The duration of the additional
- benefits will depend mostly on individual states' jobless rates,
- with recipients in the more severely affected regions getting
- payments longer. The measure will be financed largely by
- speeding up collection of estimated taxes from some wealthy
- taxpayers. That self-financing feature persuaded Bush to support
- the bill; he had vetoed two previous attempts because they did
- not maintain "budget discipline."
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- After the Senate passed the measure, it immediately
- approved a supplemental plan, estimated to cost an additional
- $400 million, to make benefits even better for workers in some
- states. The second bill, which Senate leaders believe will be
- enacted this week, is designed to satisfy Senators who feel
- their states were shortchanged in the other formula.
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