Economists, Unemployed Fret Over Long-Term Jobless Aid Lapse
Democrats in Congress are promising to try to retroactively extend emergency unemployment benefits after the new year. With the House already in recess, the benefits are expected to expire at the end of the month.
The Senate is still in Washington working on a bipartisan budget agreement passed by the House before it left town last week, but the bill does not include a benefits extension.
Extending the jobless aid is something the White House pushed. Without a congressional action, those who have been receiving benefits for more than six months will stop receiving checks as of Dec. 28. That may satisfy some fiscal conservatives, but it has some economists — and many unemployed workers — concerned.
Sheri Minkoff of Pittsburgh, Pa., is one of those about to lose the only source of income she's been able to find in nearly a year.
"I'm not worried about a career at this point. I just want a job," she says.
This is Minkoff's second time on unemployment in five years. The first time, she lost her job as a director of a nonprofit that had invested money with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.
The Two-Way
Extended Unemployment Benefits On Track To Expire Dec. 28