Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — As the U.S. Senate battles over expanded unemployment insurance, House Republicans aren't even talking about it.

The reason: Local officials and their constituents oppose the continued cash assistance regardless of the good it might do for their communities. Mayor Jeff Tibbals, who represents Tennessee's Scott County where the jobless rate is 15.6 percent, is one of them.

"I think about that quite often, about whether it's a good thing" to curb transfusions to a local economy reeling from coal-industry declines and the loss of a flooring mill, Tibbals said in an interview. "Some people just use it as a way of life."

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