According to Jay Heflin over at The Hill today, the Senate voted against moving forward with its version of House bill HR 4213 - already passed by the lower chamber before the Memorial Day break - by a vote of 52-45. This so-called "tax extenders" bill, totaling some $140 billion in spending measures, would have closed certain tax loopholes for private fund managers and extended emergency aid such as unemployment insurance benefits, COBRA health insurance subsidies, and the Medicare "doc fix."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) was responsible for authoring the amendments to this bill that differed from the House version.
Republicans criticized the bill for its spending measures, which would add to an ever-increasing an already untenable deficit. Even centrist Democrats voted against the bill, which would tack about $80 billion onto the national debt.
Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) raised a point of order relating to the budget that led to the vote this morning, which killed the bill as-is.
There is a Republican alternative to the bill offered by Senator John Thune (R-SD) that is fully paid for, but this is not expected to pass if it were taken up by Democratic leadership.
Heflin says that Baucus is expected to offer a lower-cost version of the bill that will garner support from centrist senators who opposed the bill that just failed.
I'm somewhat surprised this bill failed in this fashion. Now there will be further delay for those who desperately need extended unemployment benefits and who are currently unable to file.
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