Looking to stem further economic pain and worried about appearing too focused on healthcare at the expense of jobs, Congressional Democrats are looking to co-opt the annual transportation appropriations bill to extend unemployment insurance and COBRA, implement new tax credits, and create more public jobs.

The Huffington Post – Nelson On Board for Second Round of Spending

Congress has reacted with belated alarm to the rising unemployment and the failure of the economy to create jobs as the midterm elections draw near. Worried that too much time has been spent on health care and not enough on jobs, House Democratic leaders huddled Monday to craft a way forward on a second stimulus — or jobs bill.

With health care having moved through the House, the lower chamber has time on its hands while it waits for the Senate to act.

At a Tuesday briefing, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that leadership spent “a substantial period of time” in a meeting the day before on job creation “and we’re going to do so today and in the days to come.”

The shape, size, name and legislative course of the bill are still being worked out. “Clearly. 10.2 percent unemployment is unacceptable and is causing great pain to literally millions of people around the country. All the economic analysts have indicated that it’s going to be very difficult to bring down the jobless rate, but we are hopeful to make progress on that,” said Hoyer.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as a second stimulus. I don’t think it’ll be as broad as that. I think it’ll be very targeted on jobs. The Recovery and Reinvestment Act, of course, was a very broad … investment in medium- and long-term recovery.”

Hoyer said that he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are still hoping to adjourn the current session of Congress by December 18th. If they hit that deadline, it’ll be the first time they’ve made one all year.

There are a variety of ways Congress can spend money either inside or outside the transportation bill. “You can name them as well as I can, a whole list of options that are available. I think clearly we need to move on the unemployment insurance and the COBRA. Beyond that, you mentioned a couple: public jobs, job tax credits, infrastructure, there are a lot of options available. We’re discussing those, discussing with economic advisers as to what is the most effective, and frankly there are differences of opinion on that. States’ assistance,” Hoyer said.

Congress recently passed an extension of unemployment benefits, but it doesn’t apply to folks whose benefits run out after the first of the year. COBRA refers to subsidized health insurance for the unemployed — an extremely popular benefit — and “states’ assistance” refers to money for states to cover crippling budget shortfalls that lead to layoffs. Assistance to states was meager in the first stimulus because Collins and Nelson wanted it trimmed back significantly.

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