The bipartisan 78 to 19 vote in favor of the extended compensation came after Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, dropped his objection to extending unemployment compensation in exchange for a largely symbolic vote on paying for the aid.
The measure, which now goes to President Obama, should also allow 2,000 federal workers furloughed from the Department of Transportation to return to work as early as Wednesday and construction to resume on dozens of highway projects. Senators now will begin debating in earnest a much broader bill that would extend the safety net programs through the end of the year.
“It is time for us to stick together, both parties I hope, in an effort to stand up for the unemployed and get this economy back on its feet,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate.
After holding up the bill since last Thursday, Mr. Bunning retreated under pressure from members of his own party as well as intense criticism from Democrats, who had threatened to keep the Senate in session while lawmakers unloaded on the Kentucky Republican. The agreement essentially allowed Mr. Bunning the vote that he could have had last week but refused.
His proposal was defeated on procedural grounds, but the senator stuck by his position that the $10 billion costs of the unemployment pay should not be added to the deficit.
“We are on an unsustainable path as far as the budget,” said Mr. Bunning, who said the fight had caused him to be on the floor more than any other time during his 24-year-career in Congress.
Mr. Bunning’s about-face came after his fellow Republicans began to air their own concerns about how the Senate blockade had the potential to damage their political brand while also having a direct impact on their constituents.
“With Mr. Bunning’s battle quickly becoming a national cause célèbre, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader and Mr. Bunning’s home-state colleague, made clear earlier that Republicans were trying to end the stalemate.
And Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican colleague of the conservative Mr. Bunning, joined Democrats in trying to force the measure through, calculating that perhaps a plea from a fellow Republican would get him to change his position.
“When I was home this weekend, I talked to constituents who expressed their utter bafflement that Congress could not proceed on something that has widespread support,” Ms. Collins said.
“While trying to blame Democrats for mishandling the entire matter, other Republicans also distanced themselves from Mr. Bunning, whom Democrats were holding up as the embodiment of what they say has been a maddening pattern of Republican obstruction in the Senate. CONTINUE READING...
