US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejects vote on legislation

WASHINGTON: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has rejected some Democrats' call to vote on a stand-alone legislation to extend enhanced federal unemployment insurance benefits that expired in July, as it would undermine negotiations on the next Covid-19 relief package.

"I don't think, strategically, it's where we should go right now because the Republicans would like to pass something like that and say, 'forget about it'. Forget about state and local, forget about our investments in stopping the virus, forget about other initiatives," Xinhua news agency quoted Pelosi as saying in an interview on PBS NewsHour on Thursday.

"Because imagine the Republicans could take that into the Senate, put poison pills all over it, and it's hard to vote against extending unemployment benefits," she said, adding she personally supports the idea of tying unemployment insurance payments to economic triggers like the unemployment rate. Pelosi's remarks came after more than 100 House Democrats on Wednesday signed a letter calling on the leadership to schedule a vote this weekend to extend the extra $600 weekly unemployment benefits and establish unemployment insurance automatic stabilizers for the duration of the pandemic. (IANS) 

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