The measure would cost more than the jobs bill the Senate is expected to approve today. It mostly clears up business left unfinished because of last year’s health care debate.
There is nothing new in the emerging measure to spur job growth.
Instead, it would extend provisions that senators in both parties say have generally been helpful to the economy.
Facing a Feb. 28 deadline, Reid hopes to pass two measures. The first includes a 30-day extension of several provisions such as jobless aid, parts of the Patriot Act, and prevention of cuts in Medicare payments to doctors.
Reid and McConnell were discussing the parameters of the second - a broader, longer-term measure - in a private talk on the Senate floor. A top Reid aide could be overheard suggesting a full-year extension of unemployment insurance and a 65 percent health insurance subsidy for the unemployed through the federal COBRA program.
There is no agreement on how to proceed on the broader measure, said minority whip Jon Kyl of Arizona, who said Republicans are concerned about the high cost of the aid to the unemployed. An earlier bipartisan proposal would have extended the aid through May 31 instead of through the end of the year as proposed by Reid.
Kyl added that the proposal to give more Medicaid help to the states surprised Republicans.
The most costly piece of the measure would continue to provide additional weeks of benefits to jobless people whose unemployment insurance would otherwise expire. They have been extended several times by Congress since June 2008. The core benefit is 26 weeks, with up to 20 additional weeks in states with high unemployment.
Reid dropped the help for the unemployed from the jobs bill. Republicans were unhappy Reid had also discarded an extension of more than 40 expired tax breaks they wanted in the bill.
A trimmed-down version of the jobs bill advanced on a bipartisan 62-30 vote Monday.
