A new Democratic Senator from West Virginia is all but certain to provide the 60th vote needed to pass an extension of federal unemployment benefits this week, but that did not stop Democrats from taking a parting political swipe at Republicans.

President Barack Obama led the attack from the Rose Garden, criticizing the refusal of GOP lawmakers in the Senate to vote in favor of extending the benefits, which comes with a price tag of $33 billion, all of which would be added to the nation's $1.3 trillion deficit.

"Republican leaders in the Senate are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job," said Obama, flanked by three out-of-work people waiting for federal benefits. "Well, I think that reflects a lack of faith in the American people."

The bill would reinstate 73 weeks of federal unemployment benefits beyond the 26 weeks now provided by the states. The federal benefits expired June 4, and since then 2.2 million people who would have qualified for the additional help have not been able to collect jobless pay. The bill would keep the benefits in place until December.

Senate Republicans have repeatedly offered deals to pay for the bill. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, for instance, put forward a plan earlier this month that would have redirected unused money from the $800 billion stimulus to pay for half of the unemployment extension.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., rejected the offer. Democrats say unemployment benefits qualify as emergency spending and do not have to be paid for.

On the Senate floor Monday, Reid, whose state has the highest unemployment rate in the country, called Republican opposition to the passage of the benefits extension "appalling and heartless."

But Republicans aren't the only ones blocking the bill.

In fact, two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, brought Democrats within one vote of the 60 they needed to pass a benefits extension bill before leaving for the July 4 recess. But Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., refused to vote for the bill because it adds to the deficit.

Democrats are now waiting for the Tuesday arrival of Carte Goodwin, whom West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin tapped to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd.

His arrival in the Senate had been delayed for days by Manchin, who plans to run to replace Byrd permanently and was seeking assurance from the state legislature that he could hold a special election in November.

The House, which already approved the measure last month, will have to vote on it again this week to satisfy a parliamentary issue. Most House Republicans are again expected to vote against the bill, but Democrats hold a large enough majority to pass it.

"The American people are bone tired of deficits and debt and runaway federal spending in Washington D.C. and they expect this Congress and this administration to do what every small business, every American family and every family farmer is doing in these difficult economic times, and that is rolling their sleeves up and making hard choices about spending," House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence, R-Ind., said.

sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com