On Thursday, June 12, 2008, the House considered H.R. 5749: the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008. This legislation was first considered on Wednesday under suspension of the rules but was three votes short of the 2/3 necessary for passage. It was brought up again under regular order, which requires a simple majority for House passage. However, this time, the House did manage to secure a veto-proof vote of 2/3. H.R. 5749 provides up to 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for workers who have already used their 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits. In states where the unemployment level is 6% or higher, an additional 13 weeks of benefits would be available. Despite the fact that the unemployment rate recently went from 5.0% to 5.5%, the largest one month increase in over two decades, President Bush is still threatening a veto. I voted YES. H.R. 5749 passed and the entire vote is recorded below:
| YEA | NAY | PRESENT | NOT VOTING | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEMOCRAT | 225 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
| REPUBLICAN | 49 |
137 |
0 |
13 |
| TOTAL | 274 |
137 |
0 |
23 |
| MASSACHUSETTS DELEGATION |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |