If your unemployment benefits are about to run out, you may be eligible to receive an extension soon. The House of Representatives is planning to discuss a bill on Tuesday that would stretch benefits out a little bit longer. If it goes through, it could affect unemployed workers in about 27 states, including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.
According to the House Ways and Means Committee, the benefits of approximately 314,000 unemployed workers are set to run out by the end of the month. Another 1.4 million are set to lose them by the end of the year. According to Rep. Jim McDermott, many workers have yet to find a job after searching diligently for a year. As a result, he introduced legislation earlier this month to extend benefits.
If the bill is passed, some workers could receive federally-funded benefits for a total of 79 weeks. The only stipulation to this bill seems to be that the unemployed worker must live in a state that does or will soon have a jobless rate of 8.5 percent. The bill is expected to be passed easily and will affect the following states/district/territory:
| -Alabama | -Arizona |
| -California | -Distrtic of Columbia |
| -Florida | -Georgia |
| -Idaho | -Illinois |
| -Indiana | -Kentuky |
| -Main | -Massachusetts |
| -Michigan | -Mississippi |
| -Misouri | -Nevada |
| -New Jersey | -North Carolina |
| -New York | -Ohio |
| -Oregon | -Pennsylvania |
| -Puerto Rico | -Rode Island |
| -South Carolina | -Tennessee |
| -Washington | -Wisconsin |
| -West Virginia |
How do you feel about this extension? With the national jobless rate hitting 9.7 percent in August, do you think Congress should extend benefits to all unemployed workers?