Projo Politics Blog

WASHINGTON – President Bush has signed into law a bill that includes an immediate extension of benefits for workers without jobs in Rhode Island and other states with high unemployment rates.

At a ceremony in the Oval Office, Mr. Bush hailed the bipartisan vote that produced a $162-billion spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure also contains new education benefits for military personnel and the 13-week extension of unemployment pay, beyond the standard, 26-week duration of the program.

Rhode Island qualifies for the extension because the state’s unemployment rate is over 6 percent. Last month’s jobless rate in Rhode Island hit 7.2 percent, second only to Michigan’s jobless rate of 8.5 percent.

Nationwide, unemployment rose to 5.5 percent.

Extended federal jobless pay, financed mostly by taxes on employers, is among the government’s tools for softening the effects of an economic downturn. While federal statisticians have not declared an economic recession, many experts say one has begun, or will begin soon.

-- John E. Mulligan, Journal Washington Bureau

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