Obama suggests possible unemployment extension

During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Andrea Merkel on Tuesday, President Obama suggested that he would like to explore with Congressional leaders the possibility of extending unemployment benefits again.

Some of the steps that we took during the lame duck session, the payroll tax, the extension of unemployment insurance, the investment in — or the tax breaks for business investment in plants and equipment — all those things have helped. And one of the things that I’m going to be interested in exploring with the members of both parties in Congress is how do we continue some of these policies to make sure that we get this recovery up and running in a robust way.

Another extension seems highly unlikely despite continuing high unemployment rates. The Republican-led House appears to be unwilling to do another extension unless the cost is offset by budget cuts.