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       Democrats Push To Restore Financial Help for Long-term Unemployed

   Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration are organizing a
   political campaign to restore financial benefits to more than a million
   Americans who have been out of work for more than six months.
   Modest unemployment benefits are customarily paid by U.S. states to
   people unemployed for up to 26 weeks. During difficult economic times,
   Washington may fund additional emergency benefits that continue for
   months longer.
   While overall unemployment has fallen to 7 percent, nearly four out of
   10 jobless people have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer, a level
   Democrats call "unprecedented."
   The emergency program started during the recession recently expired,
   cutting benefits that typically run about $300 a week for 1.3 million
   people.
   Government economists say cutting this spending will cost another
   200,000 people their jobs this year. Former Labor Secretary Robert
   Reich says that is because cutting this spending cuts demand for goods,
   and that reduces the need for workers to create them.
   Reich is an economics professor who joined key Congressional Democrats
   in a briefing for journalists Friday in Washington.
   Many Republicans are skeptical of the program, which would cost $20
   billion or more. House Speaker John Boehner has said he wants the cost
   of extending this program to be made up by cutting expenses somewhere
   else in the budget. Senator Rand Paul argues that unemployment benefits
   are a dis-incentive to find work. But former Labor Secretary Reich says
   the problem is a lack of jobs, not a lack of effort to find work.
   Senate Democrats say they will hold a preliminary procedural vote on a
   plan to restore benefits on Monday.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/democrats-push-to-restore-financial-h
   elp-for-longterm-unemployed/1823040.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/democrats-push-to-restore-financial-help-for-longterm-unemployed/1823040.html