Sunday, May 29, 2011

Republicans pull unemployment bill

House Republicans yanked a bill to tweak unemployment insurance after Republican lawmakers raised concerns that the legislation was too confusing and would be dead in the Senate.

The GOP planned to vote after Memorial Day on Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp’s (R-Mich.) JOBS Act, a bill which sought to give states flexibility in spending federal unemployment funds.

Camp came to Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) weekly meeting with freshmen Wednesday to talk about the bill, and later briefed a broader swath of the conference where the concerns were amplified.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said there was an “education” issue with the bill. The House Rules Committee postponed setting the bill’s parameters for debate late Wednesday evening.

A GOP source said, “Camp briefed members yesterday because he believes member education is an important component to any piece of legislation and there was strong, positive feedback on the policy, but, as you know, floor activity is always fluid.”

This comes after a tough week for Republicans, where they lost a special election for a Republican seat in upstate New York in a race dominated by a House-approved proposal to change Medicare.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55791.html#ixzz1NiW87IuU



 

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