10 12 2013

White House: Extend jobless benefits

President Obama's newest priority is pushing Congress to extend federal unemployment benefits by another year, and Republicans say they're willing to consider the idea. Benefits for 1.3 million workers will expire Dec. 28 if Congress fails to extend a recession-era program by the end of this month.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers and Department of Labor issued a joint report touting how jobless benefits buoy the economy, while keeping 2.5 million workers out of poverty each year.
Allowing unemployment benefits to expire "would be harmful to millions of workers and their families," according to the report.
President Obama started using his bully pulpit this week to put more pressure on Congress to extend the program.
Related: Private Sector hiring stronger
"Christmas-time is no time for Congress to tell more than 1 million of these Americans that they have lost this unemployment insurance," Obama said in a speech on Wednesday. "(That's) what will happen if Congress does not act before they leave on their holiday vacation."
The White House points out that if benefits expire, U.S. GDP could fall next year by 0.2 to 0.4 of a percentage point, according to the Congressional Budget Office and a J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) economist.
The report also suggests the economy isn't strong enough to end benefits.
Republicans had been cool to the idea of extending benefits, saying in memos that the program has already cost $252 billion through July.
But, on Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner suggested he was open to an extension.
"If the President has a plan for extending unemployment, I'll take a look at it," Boehner said.
The program was first signed into law in June 2008 by President George W. Bush, when the unemployment rate was 5.6% and the average duration of jobless insurance was 17.1 weeks.