House GOP Kills Extended Jobless Benefits after Veto Threat

House Republicans on Wednesday, buckling under the threat of a Bush veto, voted down a bill that would have extended unemployment insurance to the nearly 4 million jobless workers who will run out of benefits over the next nine months.

"There is no better example after today's vote why we need a change in November," Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) told reporters. The bill would have added 13 weeks of benefits for most jobless workers and 26 for those in states with the highest unemployment rates.

The vote was 279-144. If only five Republicans had changed their vote, it would been enough to overturn a Bush veto. Pledging to kill the bill, Bush claimed that unemployment isn't high enough and the economy isn't bad enough.  May saw the biggest one-month jump in the unemployment rate in more than 20 years, at a time when gas prices have climbed above $4 a gallon and food prices are rising.