House Passes Bill With Jobless Benefits and Tax Breaks

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The House of Representatives approved pared-down legislation that would extend long-term unemployment benefits and revive several popular business tax breaks.

Friday's vote came after Democrats patched divisions within their ranks over the bill's impact on the nation's budget deficit. The wide-ranging bill comes with a 10-year, $115 billion price tag, about half the cost of a more ambitious package unveiled just days ago.

The legislation represented a modest but hard-fought accomplishment for Democratic leaders, who had struggled for several days to build consensus on the measure, amid demands from fiscally conservative Democrats for greater financial restraint.

Proposals that would have helped states pay their share of Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, and would have extended soon-to-expire health insurance subsidies for laid-off workers were dropped.