…in a sort of head-scratching way. The Washington Post’s Dina ElBoghady reports that the Senate voted 98-0 yesterday to extend two key parts of the Obama administration and Congress’s economic recovery strategy: unemployment benefits and a homebuyer tax-credit. The Senate was, as it always seems to be in the young Obama presidency, the key hurdle to passing legislation: the House passed a similar bill a month ago to extend unemployment benefits and the administration long ago signaled its support.

But the bill makes an odd delineation in its extension of unemployment benefits. In states where the unemployment is above 8.5 percent, the unemployed can get 20 more weeks of benefits. But in states where the unemployment rate is below 8.5 percent, the unemployed get just 14 more weeks of benefit. So if I’m unemployed in Idaho, where the unemployment rate was 8.8 percent as of September, I get 20 weeks of benefits. But if I’m unemployed in Wisconsin, with a 8.3 percent rate in September, I get 14 weeks. So why this delineation? Is it proven that there are a lot more long-time unemployed people (i.e. those who have been looking for a job for more than six months) in states with rates above 8.5 percent? Or is this an arbitrary distinction?

Meanwhile, the $8,000 tax-credit for first-time homebuyers has been pilloried by economists for not helping those that need it most and even encouraging another housing bubble. Yet the Senate bill extends this credit to anyone who is looking to buy a new home, as long as that home is a primary residency. And only the rich don’t qualify: the income caps are $125,000 for an individual and $225,000 for a couple.

All in all, if want to buy a new house and make $120,000 a year, the stimulus bill extensions work great for you. But If you’re an unemployed person in Wisconsin (or any of the other 22 states with below 8.5 percent unemployment rates) who can’t even dream of home ownership, these extensions aren’t the boost they could be.

Comment RSS - You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.