Reid: ‘Optimistic’ About Jobless Aid Compromise

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.,Nev.) Tuesday said he is “cautiously optimistic” that a bipartisan agreement on extending benefits for the long term unemployed will be reached later today, saying that any deal will likely be a one-year extension if it complies with GOP demands that its cost be offset.

A senior Democratic official said that a compromise year-long extension will be proposed to a closed-door lunch meeting of Senate Democrats Thursday, as the Senate takes a midday break from debate on a three-month extension of the jobless aid program that expired Dec. 28 — a bill Republicans have opposed because its $6.5 billion cost is not offset.