Sen. Harry Reid Cautiously Optimistic About Unemployment Compromise

Would provide 31 additional weeks in exchange for cuts elsewhere

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed optimism Thursday about chances for compromise on jobless legislation, and officials said talks were focused on a scaled-back program that is fully paid for and would provide up to 31 weeks of benefits for the long-term unemployed.

The officials said the emerging compromise would run through the late fall, and the price tag — approximately $18 billion — would be offset through cuts elsewhere in the budget so deficits would not rise.

Rank and file senators in both parties were reviewing the proposal in closed-door noontime meetings.

The Senate has been working on a three-month resurrection of a program that expired on Dec. 28, immediately cutting off benefits of roughly $256 weekly for more than one million hurt by the recession.