Don Nickles: “The essence of the letter says the only way for States to continue paying temporary unemployment compensation benefits…”

“The essence of the letter says the only way for States to continue paying temporary unemployment compensation benefits without disruption is if a bill is presented to the President for signature no later than Thursday, January 9, the day after tomorrow. We had to resolve the differences between the House and the Senate. The Senate passed a $4.9 billion bill; the House passed a $1 billion bill. We have worked with our colleagues in the House. I think we have been successful. I believe we have been successful in getting them to accept a straight extension of present law. We were originally talking 3 months. After negotiations with the House, I consulted with my colleague and friend from New York and said, let's make it a 5-month extension. So we extended the program all the way through May, and then the phaseout would occur. So there would not be a shutoff date as there was December 28, a much better transition. It was my understanding that colleagues had agreed upon this 5-month extension. The cost of this proposal is estimated to be $7.2, $7.3 billion on a 2002 scoring base.”