Last night, the Senate passed H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009. The House is expected to pass the Senate version quickly—perhaps today—and President Obama is likely to sign it.

The bill authorizes up to 14 additional weeks of benefits for unemployed workers nationwide, provided they have already exhausted their earlier authorized benefits or will do so by the end of the year, plus an additional 6 weeks of benefits in states with unemployment higher than 8.5%. A cost estimate for the bill puts it at about $24 per U.S. family.

An article in the Detroit Free Press points out a wrinkle in that extra 6-week benefit for hard-hit states:

However, under the legislation as written, it is unclear how many people in those high unemployment states could ever collect that additional 6 weeks of benefits. To get them, a person in one of the affected states would have to exhaust the newly authorized benefits of up to 14 weeks first, and do so by the end of the year. But there are only eight weeks left in 2009.

I suspect we might be hearing about that more here on WashingtonWatch.com.

But the point of this post is to share a very kind note I received yesterday from a visitor, regarding the 50,000+ comments we received on the bill:

I wanted to take a moment and thank you for the great job hosting the forum on the Unemployment Extension in the Senate.

I have a vested interest in the success of this bill and during the initial stages searched for relevant content relating to the progress and grass roots efforts of regular citizens. I could find no other source that provided up to the minute information from so many different sources. Kudos to you and your team!

I also noticed the presence of many negative posts from the “trolls” and was very surprised by your restraint in regards to their comments. I commend you for allowing different points of view through discussion even if some of the comments were truly mean spirited.

My point is that we must allow for the free disemination of information, both good and bad. I’m personally relieved after such a drawn out process but I truly believe without your constant support of this forum the pressure would have been unbearable in the absence of new information.

Kudos to washingtonwatch.com and their entire company. Keep up the good work, there are many more important decisions in the near future and with your help facts will overcome unknown fears.

It’s very gratifying to get a little “thank you” for the work of hosting the site and moderating the often very rough conversation on this bill. I was barraged with people asking me to ban other visitors for making what were often truly inappropriate comments, but I think a strong commitment to free exchange of information can produce the best results.

Our so-called “trolls” have things they want to say. They lack social skills, and they’re obviously very frustrated. It’s up to this site to give them a productive outlet for engagement. I’ve got some ideas for doing that, and we’ll give those a try—as well as more comment controls—in the coming months and years. Your wishes of “good luck” are welcome.

And good luck to all the folks who are battling unemployment out there. For all the negativity I have dealt with as manager of the site, the goodness of the people trying to learn information, work together, and better themselves shines through.

I hope nobody ever needs another extension of unemployment compensation—because I hope everyone gets jobs! But I also hope many of you will continue to stay engaged with Congress through this site.

It takes active citizenship to run a good government and society. I hope the folks who have gotten engaged with government through this process will continue to pay attention—to all the issues the federal government deals with.

We’ll be here to work with you.

The bill to extend unemployment benefits another little while has gotten a score from the CBO. That’s the Congressional Budget Office, a small agency that does economic modeling and estimates about the spending and revenue effects of pending bills.

You can see the analysis itself by going to the “Learn More” box on the page for the bill and clicking “Read an Analysis of the Bill.” To see how we process estimates from CBO, take a look at our “about” page.

H.R. 3548 has almost 17,000 comments on it at this writing, and it’s not all sweetness and light. I don’t know if the conversation will improve with the knowledge that every family in the U.S. will spend about $24 to support unemployed folks, but it’s a conversation worth having.

Another bill to extend unemployment benefits was introduced yesterday. The text of the bill isn’t available yet, so I can’t tell you how long it would extend them for. The bill is H.R. 3756.

What’s this about foul-mouthed rants?

The top four most visited bills on the site so far this week deal with unemployment benefits, a topic that generates a lot of passion. (Check out H.R. 3548, S. 1699, H.R. 3404, S. 1647) )

On the one hand, many Americans are distraught at being unemployed. Some of their stories are touching, men and women who want desperately to provide for their families.

Then there are the folks who it’s hard to feel sympathy for. These are the ones who can’t post a comment without dropping the f-bomb or the s-bomb.

The frustrated people on these pages are particularly easy targets for trolls. All a troll has to do is drop a rude comment and the board explodes with curses and ranting. Not good. It’s understandable that they fall for this trick, but it’s hard, frankly, to feel sympathy for people whose highest expression is to come up with new ways to tell someone else to “F%$#@^& you F$%&*ing f$^&*!”

Plenty of people, of course, are sharing the latest news and organizing their efforts. Great to see that.

Anyway, off we go! Another place to rant, tell your story, organize, or debate: H.R. 3756.

Like Santa delivering presents to all the good little boys and girls, we have added cost estimates to some recent new laws.

Public Law 110-449, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008, costs the average U.S. family about $58. You can see some people discussing how to collect their benefits on the page for the bill.

Public Law 110-457, The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, costs about $0.38 per family.

And Public Law 110-351, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, comes in at $3.50.

Consider these gifts to your fellow men and women – whether you wanted to give them or not!

But you’re getting a little something back. An updated cost estimate for Public Law 110-328, the SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act, reveals savings of about $5.50 per family. Over the next 10 years, the bill decreases both spending and revenue.

An updated estimate for H.R. 7321, the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act, which did not pass, places the bill’s cost at just under $89 per U.S. family.

The bills passed into law this week include:

Public Law 110-455, a joint resolution ensuring that the compensation and other emoluments attached to the office of Secretary of State are those which were in effect on January 1, 2007 (no cost estimate)

Public Law 110-456, The America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 (saves $0.21 per family)

Public Law 110-458, The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (saves $30 per family)

Public Law 110-459, The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act (no cost estimate)

and

Public Law 110-460, A bill to make a technical correction in the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (no cost estimate)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Among the bills passed in the House during the recent Silly Season was H.R. 6867, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008. (Not all bills passed in Silly Season are silly.)

The bill would provide seven additional weeks of unemployment checks to those who have exhausted their benefits. People in states where the unemployment rate is above 6 percent would be entitled to an additional 13 weeks above the 26 weeks of regular benefits.

It didn’t pass in the Senate, but Congress is likely to return after the election to do some more business, and it could take up the unemployment extension then.

A previous extension (cost: about $120 per U.S. family) was rolled into a supplemental spending bill this summer and passed into law. The current bill has no cost estimate yet.

So, whaddya say? Does the current economic climate mean that people down on their luck need a little more help? Or does the current economic climate mean that there’s no money for handouts?

Here’s the current vote on H.R. 6867, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article about the bill.