Reed helps broker deal on expanded jobless aid

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jack Reed helped broker a deal with other senators to restore benefits for the long-term unemployed that expired late last year.
The deal, reached earlier this month by Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, Nevada Republican Dean Heller and eight other senators, would reauthorize emergency unemployment benefits for five months, according to a statement from Reed’s office.
The cost would be covered by extending so-called pension smoothing, which was set to phase out this year. That maneuver would give companies more time to make payments to pension funds, meaning their short-term taxable income would rise because they could claim fewer deductions, according to Bloomberg News.
Other offsets include extending customs user fees through 2024 and allowing single-employer pension plans to prepay their flat-rate premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
President Barack Obama has pressed lawmakers for months to reach a compromise on extending the aid. The measure agreed to by the senators would be retroactive to Dec. 28 when the emergency benefits expired for about 1.6 million Americans. •

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