Unemployment Benefits Extension Deadline Arrives: Will Congress Act?

(Nov. 29) -- Will they or won't they?

Unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for six months or longer will officially expire Tuesday at midnight unless Congress steps in and approves another extension.

Blocked in large part by Republicans, the U.S. House of Representatives failed to muster enough votes on Nov. 18 to pass a three-month extension of benefits. Now, Congress has just one more day to do so before the current extension expires and more than 2 million Americans find themselves without weekly checks from the federal government.

To understand the drama playing out between individual states and Congress, Michigan offers clues into how serious the potential lapse of benefits is being portrayed.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm cast the situation in stark terms:

As you know, existing federal unemployment benefits are set to expire on November 30th. If this happens, 181,500 Michigan residents will exhaust their unemployment benefits over the next five months.

In Michigan, we are emerging from these difficult economic times, but we still have many families who continue to weather this storm. In fact, 336,000 Michigan residents currently receive state of federal unemployment benefits in Michigan. Now is not the time to pull the rug out from those who need assistance to provide for their families.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Dale Kildee says he expects Congress to pass the new extension Tuesday, but many people who work for Michigan's social service network aren't so convinced.

"These unemployment extensions are especially important to Michigan because of our high unemployment rate. If Congress prematurely ends unemployment support to tens of thousands of families and with few jobs available, it will put a terrible strain on the private and public safety nets," Judy Putnam, communications director for the Michigan League for Human Services, told Mlive.com.

While the apparent turnaround of the U.S. auto industry is welcome news for Michigan, the impressive profits posted by General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have not immediately translated into meaningful hiring that can help ease the state's 12.3 percent unemployment rate.

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Michigan is by no means the only state contemplating what the termination of benefits to residents may mean for the immediate future. In Illinois, for example, an estimated 127,000 will lose their benefits if Congress fails to pass an extension. In Wisconsin, that number is 44,100. Approximately 150,000 unemployed Californians could see their benefits disappear, and the list goes on and on.

While Democrats will bring up the extension for another vote on Tuesday, it remains unclear whether two-thirds of House members will come together to pass the measure.

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