Unemployment benefits extension bill to be introduced

Democratic legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives are expected to introduce a bill today to extend federal unemployment benefits for another year.

The Huffington Post reports:

“With almost five unemployed Americans for every job opening, too many people remain jobless because of a lack of work, not a lack of wanting to work,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), a sponsor of the bill, said in a statement to HuffPost. “While this Republican Congress fails to support jobs legislation and continues to blame unemployment on the unemployed, more than two million Americans will soon lose their unemployment benefits.”

The federal government will stop paying extended unemployment claims starting in January unless Congress reauthorizes the benefits. Since 2008, people laid off through no fault of their own have been eligible for the extended compensation after they use up the standard 26 weeks of payments provided by states. Under current law, however, anyone who exhausts their state benefits or a tier of federal benefits in January will be ineligible for additional checks.

Without such an extension, two million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits by February. The question now is whether they can get the bill passed in the Republican-controlled House.