A new package of extended unemployment benefits and fresh tax breaks will pump another $46 billion in government stimulus into the economy through the middle of next year, Congressional estimates show.

Lawmakers valued the package at $21 billion. But that may be an ambiguous, 10-year projection estimated under arcane “inside-the-Beltway” budgeting rules.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Senate Finance Committee, the new measure will trigger $45.7 billion in additional tax breaks and government expenditures through June 2010. Such stimulus will grow if Congress extends unemployment benefits again -- and approves more tax breaks -- next year, a mid-term election year.

The House approved the package on Thursday after the Senate signed off on it Wednesday night. It passed both chambers with broad bipartisan support.

President Obama will sign the bill on Friday, when the Labor Department will release the monthly jobs report for October. The report may show the unemployment rate hitting 10% for the first time since 1983, even as the recession appears to be ending. Last week, the government estimated the economy grew 3.5% in the third quarter, but renewed job creation typically lags the end of a recession by several months.

The administration has resisted calling the new package a second stimulus plan, the first of which was a $787 billion stimulus measure passed in February. Instead, the White House has described it as a “safety net” package that addresses expiring benefits and provisions. But it does more than that:

-- It budgets $10 billion to extend and expand the popular homebuyer tax credit. The bill extended the present $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers through April 30, 2010. Existing homeowners looking to move are eligible for a $6,500 tax credit through April 30, provided they have lived in the home they are selling, or have sold, as principal residence for five consecutive years in the past eight years. If potential home buyers have a binding contract on or before that date, they will have until July 1 to close the transaction. Income limits for eligible home buyers are expanded to $125,000 for single buyers and $225,000 for couples. The purchase price of the home cannot exceed $800,000. 

-- It will provide $33.2 billion in tax refunds for companies that lost money in 2008 and 2009. The plan will allow such companies to file amended tax returns for up to five prior tax years, to provide quick cash for struggling firms. Previously, the refiling period for this tax loss “carryback” was two prior years. The provision would exclude financial firms that received government bailout money.

-- It will provide $2.4 billion to extend unemployment benefits for another 14 weeks, and up to more 20 weeks in the states with unemployment rates that exceed 8.5%.  About 1.3 million jobless people were set to lose their benefits on December 31.

-- It includes about $100 million for another minor tax provision. 

The new measures will complement ongoing stimulus spending from the plan approved in February. According to the administration’s economic recovery Web site, more than $500 billion of the original $787 billion remains unspent. The balance is expected to be distributed through the end of next year. 

Lawmakers said the package approved this week will not add to the deficit. The biggest revenue raising provision, worth $20 billion over 10 years, delays a previously-approved business tax break involving allocation of interest rate expenses in U.S.-based multinational companies.

Estimates on 'Safety Net' Package