A House-approved bill to extend unemployment benefits isn't seeing much progress within the Senate, according to the Associated Press. The bill would have given another 13 weeks of unemployment benefits to people from states where the jobless rate is at least 8.5 percent.
But opposing lawmakers say states that have lower unemployment would be left out.
"The original hope among Democratic leaders was to get quick approval of a proposal giving four extra weeks of benefits to the jobless in all 50 states and 17 weeks to workers in those 27 states where the unemployment rate is 8.5 percent or above," writes Jim Abrams for the Associated Press. "But that drew opposition from lawmakers from the 23 states who wouldn't qualify for the greater benefit."
"Unemployed workers face equally severe challenges no matter what state they live in, and they should be given the support they need," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., told the AP.
Shaheen wrote a letter this week to Senate leaders, according to the AP, signed by 15 other Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats, saying it was unfair that hundreds of thousands of workers in states with lower rates of unemployment would be excluded under the House plan.
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