The deal, struck by Reed, Nevada Republican Dean Heller and eight other senators, would reauthorize emergency unemployment benefits for five months.
The cost of the benefits would be covered by extending so-called pension smoothing, which was set to phase out this year. That maneuver would give companies more time to make payments to pension funds, meaning their short-term taxable income would rise because they could claim fewer deductions.
Other offsets include extending customs user fees through 2024 and allowing single-employer pension plans to prepay their flat-rate premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
The measure would be retroactive to Dec. 28 when the emergency benefits expired for about 1.6 million Americans.
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Co-sponsors of the compromise measure include Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mark Kirk of Illinois, and Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois.
"There are a lot of good people looking for work and I am pleased we're finally able to reach a strong, bipartisan consensus to get them some help," Reed said in a statement.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told reporters earlier today that the chamber would act on the measure after returning from next week's break.
The last time Democrats tried to act on this issue, they pressed for three months of benefits. The bill, S. 1845, stalled when backers didn't have enough support to cut off debate. The Feb. 6 vote was 55-43.
Republicans opposed previous Democratic proposals to cover the cost of extending the benefits.
This time, Reed and Heller said they were confident they would have more than enough votes to advance the measure.
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