It may yet happen. An extension of the federal unemployment compensation assistance program, that is. The latest estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, out today, said a bill to extend the act for three months -- through March 31, 2014 -- would increase the nation's deficit by $6.5 billion for the year. The move, under Senate Bill S.1845, introduced December 17, would allow qualified states to provide up to 47 more weeks of federally funded unemployment compensation to out-of-work folks who have exhausted their regular benefits.
Those benefits ran out for some 1.3 million workers as 2013 ended. It's possible, then, that Congress -- when it returns to Washington after its holiday -- could yet act on the bill and reinstate jobless pay from the federal purse.
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