U.S. President Bush Signs an Extension of Jobless Benefits into Law

U.S. President George W. Bush signed an extension of jobless benefits into law to ensure that millions of laid-off workers will keep getting their unemployment checks as the year-end holidays approach.

Congressional leadership rushed the bill to the White House after it was approved Thursday, November 20, 2008,  to make the unusually quick bill signing possible before Bush left the country for Lima, Peru, to attend the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Earlier in the year, Bush expressed doubts about further benefit extensions, but he came to support the legislation as new figures showed new claims for jobless aid had reached a 16-year high.

“With more Americans filing jobless claims than at any time since the 1992, the Senate’s passage of the House’s unemployment insurance extension legislation will help speed relief to more than 2 million workers who continue to search for new jobs in these difficult economic times,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat.

The new law provides an additional 7 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for workers who have exhausted their unemployment benefits (providing 20 total weeks of extended benefits when combined with the 13 weeks provided earlier this year).

Those in states where the unemployment rate is above 6 percent would be entitled to an additional 13 weeks above the 26 weeks of regular benefits. Benefit checks average about $300 a week nationwide.

The benefits provided would be in addition to 13 weeks of federally funded extended benefits Congress approved last June.

Congress has enacted federally funded extensions seven times in the past 50 years during economic slumps — in 1958, 1961, 1972, 1975, 1982, 1991 and 2002.

About 1.2 million people would exhaust their unemployment insurance by the end of the year without the extension, sponsors said. The new statute is estimated to cost about $5.7 billion.

Citing the Congressional Budget Office, Speaker Pelosi said that extending these benefits is one of the most cost-effective and fast-acting ways to stimulate the economy because the money is spent quickly.

The $6 billion in benefits will be paid from the Federal unemployment trust fund, which has more than enough reserves to cover the cost.

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