Unemployment Benefits Top Harry Reid’s 2014 Senate Agenda
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US Senate(WASHINGTON) — Announcing Democrats’ priorities for 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid placed extending unemployment benefits at the top of the Senate’s to-do list for next year.
“It’s a good bill, and it deserves a vote,” Reid, D.-N.V., said in a news conference Thursday.
An extension of the benefits for the unemployed was one of the items left undone on Congress’ agenda in 2013, and the benefits are set to expire for 1.3 million people on Dec 28. Reid said Thursday he would bring up a vote on the bill, which would extend unemployment benefits for three months, no later than January 7.
Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, has previously expressed a willingness to extend the benefits, but he wants the costs to be offset with spending reductions.
Senate Democrats also said they would focus on increasing the minimum wage and fighting income inequality in the new year.
“This is just the first step. We need to raise the minimum wage. We need to take other measures that will help address income inequality in this country,” Reid said.
“Issues like job creation, minimum wage and unemployment insurance are going to weigh on the minds of voters far more than ‘Obamacare’ by the time the 2014 elections roll around,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio