The U.S. Congress adjourned November 22 without taking any action on an extension of unemployment benefits for long-term jobless workers, after the Bush administration refused to intervene in a dispute between the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate. The result is that nearly one million unemployed will lose their benefits by the end of the year.
Congress passed a 13-week extension in federal unemployment compensation benefits last March, adding to the 26 weeks available to long-term unemployed workers in most states. Those jobless workers will begin exhausting the total of 39 weeks of benefits on December 28, when 830,000 become ineligible. An additional 95,000 will lose benefits in each subsequent week, according to Labor Department estimates, until the total reaches 2.1 million by the end of March 2003.
According to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which favored continuation of the extended benefits, those losing benefits December 28 will number 833,200, while the total exhausting benefits by March 31 will be 2,085,400. The hardest hit states are:
Congress passed a 13-week extension in federal unemployment compensation benefits last March, adding to the 26 weeks available to long-term unemployed workers in most states. Those jobless workers will begin exhausting the total of 39 weeks of benefits on December 28, when 830,000 become ineligible. An additional 95,000 will lose benefits in each subsequent week, according to Labor Department estimates, until the total reaches 2.1 million by the end of March 2003.
According to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which favored continuation of the extended benefits, those losing benefits December 28 will number 833,200, while the total exhausting benefits by March 31 will be 2,085,400. The hardest hit states are: