CONGRESS HAS rushed through emergency legislation to keep the United States running for another five days after a $410 billion (€324 billion) spending Bill failed to win enough votes in the Senate.
Senate Republicans blocked the so-called omnibus spending Bill on Thursday night, complaining about big funding increases for domestic agencies and more than 8,000 individual spending projects sought by legislators.
Although the Democrats control 58 seats in the Senate, they need five or six Republican votes to win a filibuster-proof, 60-seat majority because a handful of Democrats are unhappy with the spending Bill.
The Senate has scheduled a vote on the Bill for Tuesday but house speaker Nancy Pelosi has threatened to throw out the legislation if senators attempt to amend it.
The standoff in Congress came as new jobless figures showed that 651,000 Americans lost their jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate above 8 per cent to its highest level since 1983. US employers cut 681,000 jobs in December and another 655,000 in January. The economy has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
Some 12.5 million Americans are now out of work and, if those working part-time who would like to work full-time are included, the figure is more than 21 million.
Addressing a police graduation ceremony yesterday in Ohio, one of the states hardest hit by job losses, US president Barack Obama said the latest jobless figures were unacceptable.
“I don’t need to tell the people of this state what statistics like this mean, because so many of you have been watching jobs disappear long before this recession hit,” he said. “Well, that is not a future I accept for the United States of America.”
Mr Obama said his $787 billion economic stimulus package would help to stem job losses and he criticised Republicans for rejecting the idea of a government role in job creation.
“I also know that this country has never responded to a crisis by sitting on the sidelines and hoping for the best,” he said.
“I know that throughout our history, we have met every great challenge with bold action and big ideas. That’s what’s fuelled a shared and lasting prosperity. And I know that at this defining moment for America we have a responsibility to ourselves and to our children to do it once again.”
House Republican leader John Boehner urged the president to respond to the latest unemployment figures by ordering a freeze on government spending and to veto the omnibus spending Bill.
Mr Boehner has urged supporters to jam the Senate switchboard to call on senators to reject the spending Bill, and Republicans have circulated a petition denouncing it.
“With the federal government swimming in red ink and Democratic leaders considering tax hikes during a recession, taxpayers can’t afford Carter-era increases in spending,” the petition says. “We need a responsible appropriations Bill that holds federal spending at current levels. Families and small businesses are tightening their belts; Congress must too.”
The stock market has fallen steadily since Mr Obama took office in January and labour market analysts predict that heavy job losses will continue. “As the president has often said, it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday.