Obama Signs Homebuyer, Jobless Aid Bill

(WASHINGTON) — President Barack Obama signed into law a $24 billion economic stimulus bill providing tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and extending unemployment benefits to the longtime jobless who have been left behind as the economy veers toward recovery.

The bill-signing at the White House Friday came a day after the House, displaying rare bipartisan agreement over the seriousness of the jobless situation, voted 403-12 for the measure. The Senate approved it unanimously on Wednesday. (See TIME's special "Out of Work in America")

The White House said the law, which also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses, builds on provisions in the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February that aim at spurring job creation. "The need for such a measure was made clear by the jobs report that we received this morning," Obama said, citing Friday's government report the jobless rate hit 10.2 percent last month, the highest since 1983. The rate was 9.8 percent in September.

He called it a "sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead" and pledged more work. "I will not rest until all Americans who want work can find work," he said during a Rose Garden appearance before reporters. Watch TIME's video of Joel Stein exploring foreclosures in Las Vegas.

Lawmakers stressed that the fourth unemployment benefit extension in the past 18 months was necessary because initial signs of economic recovery have not been reflected in the job market. "The truth is that long-term unemployment remains at its highest rate since we began measuring it in 1948," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. About one-third of the 15 million people out of work have gone at least six months without a job.

The law provides another 14 weeks of benefits to all out-of-work people who have exhausted their benefits or will do so by the end of the year, estimated at nearly 2 million. Those in states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above get an additional six weeks. Read "How to Know When the Economy Is Turning Up."

The Labor Department announced Friday that that employers shed another 190,000 jobs in October. Obama said job creation traditionally lags behind economic growth, but said it is small comfort to those seeking work. "So although it will take time and it will take patience, I am confident that our economy will recover," Obama said. "I'm confident that we're moving in the right direction. And I promise that I won't rest until America prospers once again."

The extra 20 weeks could push the maximum a person in a high unemployment state could receive to 99 weeks, the most in history. Unemployment checks generally are for about $300 a week.

The tax credits, added by the Senate, center on extending the popular $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers that was included in the stimulus package. The credit, which was to expire at the end of this month, will be available through next June as long as the buyer signs a binding contract by the end of April.

The program is expanded to include a $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who buy a new place after living in their current residence for at least five years.

The credit, said Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada, a state particularly hard hit by the recession, "will allow more people to purchase a home in my district and help stop the continued downward spiral in housing prices caused by the foreclosure crisis."

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