Reid: Jobless bill in GOP’s hands after Senate passage

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that after the Senate passes an extension of long-term unemployment benefits later this week, the issue will be in House Republicans’ hands.

“It’s in their hands,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “We hope they will be considerate to these struggling people.”

{mosads}Later Monday, the Senate is expected to adopt the motion to proceed to H.R. 3979, the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act, which Reid is using as the legislative vehicle for the jobless aid proposal. Final passage will likely happen later this week.

Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) have put together a plan that would provide retroactive benefits to more than 2 million people who lost their benefits when the program expired on Dec. 28.

Read more from The Hill.