recession

A new report prepared for the Immigration Policy Center finds that illegal immigrants who gained legal status in the 1980s via the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) went on to earn substantial gains in their socioeconomic status. The report suggests that, contrary to the idea that legalizing immigrants will increase competition for scarce jobs [...]

Twenty-seven days, four votes and a long lesson in tedium later, the upper chamber has passed legislation extending unemployment benefits by at least 14 weeks in every state. The final tally was 98-0.
Similar legislation passed the House more than six weeks ago, but the bill has been held up in the Senate as party leaders [...]

Regarding the Senate vote on unemployment insurance that went off a moment ago, it’s worth noting that the only opponent was Sen. Jim DeMint (R), who represents South Carolina, where the unemployment rate of 11.6 percent happens to be the fifth highest in the country.
We’ve got a call in to DeMint’s office to ask for [...]

The Senate on Wednesday easily cleared the last procedural barrier standing in the way of passing legislation to extend unemployment insurance benefits as long as 20 weeks nationwide.
The count was  97  to one, with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) the only lawmaker to oppose the measure.
The lopsided vote clears the way for final passage of the [...]

The Senate will hold a procedural vote tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. to limit debate on legislation extending unemployment benefits in all states, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) just announced on the chamber floor. Senate rules mandate that the final vote can’t come earlier than 30 hours after the cloture vote. To expedite final passage, however, Durbin [...]

The Senate is on the verge of passing a bill extending unemployment benefits up to 20 weeks nationwide, after lawmakers on Monday easily hopped the procedural hurdle bringing debate on the legislation to an end.
The cloture vote was a lopsided 85 to 2. After weeks of haggling over controversial amendments, only Republican Sens. Christopher Bond [...]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) threatened to hold a midnight vote yesterday to proceed to long-delayed legislation extending unemployment insurance for up to 20 weeks. That vote didn’t happen, but it might not have to. Reid’s office said this morning that party leaders “should be able” to reach agreement to skip that step and [...]

The New York Times reports that the U.S. economy grew last quarter for the first time in the past year:
Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the three months ending in September, a significant spike from a relatively shrunken base. The economy had contracted at annual rates of 0.7 percent [...]

Moments ago, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) took to the chamber floor with a strange claim about the urgency surrounding legislation to extend unemployment insurance.
“The benefits haven’t run out yet,” Kyl said. “We’re going to pass this before the benefits run out.”
It’s tough to decipher exactly what he means.

In the wake of yesterday’s Senate vote on an unemployment insurance extension, there’s been some confusion — including among TWI commenters — about what exactly happened. And what happens next.
Here’s the bad news for those having exhausted their benefits: The vote on cloture to proceed to the bill doesn’t mean that the bill has [...]