Lawmakers also to take up tax credit for homebuyers

An extension of jobless benefits and a popular tax credit for home buyers heads to the House of Representatives on Thursday, with quick passage expected after the Senate overwhelmingly cleared the measure Wednesday night.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office says a vote will be around 2 or 3 p.m. Eastern.


Senators voted 98-0 on Wednesday evening to approve a bill that would extend jobless benefits in all states for 14 weeks, and for up to 20 weeks in states where the unemployment rate exceeds 8.5%.

The U.S. unemployment rate is at a 26-year high of 9.8%, and the White House is warning that job losses will continue even as the economy recovers. The latest U.S. jobs figures are due Friday morning, and economists surveyed by MarketWatch estimate that the country lost 150,000 jobs in October. See Economic Calendar.

The bill also extends and expands a tax credit for home buyers. An $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers now set to expire this month is extended through April 30 under the bill.

At the same time, the bill allows people who have lived in a home for at least five years to claim a $6,500 credit if they purchase a new home.

House lawmakers are preparing for a vote after the Labor Department reported Thursday morning that the number of people filing initial claims for state jobless benefits dropped by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 512,000 in the latest week, the first decline in two weeks and the fewest initial claims since early January. See full story.

But the jobless claims figures don't point toward quick job-creation, analysts say.

"If the pace of decline from the peak is maintained, we are still some five months away from claims reaching the level that will signal net job growth," wrote RDQ Economics economists.