Benefits to end Saturday for long-term jobless

[steve2470]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/benefits-to-end-saturday-for-long-term-jobless/2013/12/25/b64668b6-6cb0-11e3-b405-7e360f7e9fd2_story.html

Kathy Biscotti cut back to two meals a day after losing her job over the summer. On Saturday, she must swallow an even more bitter pill: the end of her federal unemployment benefits.

An estimated 1.3 million long-term unemployed workers like Biscotti are expected to be affected when the program expires. The extended benefits, staunchly opposed by Republicans, were left out of the bipartisan federal budget agreement reached this month. Senate Democrats have vowed to make the issue a top priority when they return to Washington in January, but Biscotti says she can’t wait that long.

“I could be out on the street by then,” said the 51-year-old Baltimore resident, who lost her job as an office assistant at a real estate company in June. “I have no control over this. It’s all up to Congress.”

The emergency unemployment benefits have been a staple of Washington’s efforts to cushion Main Street from the blows of the recession for the past five years. Lawmakers have extended the program 11 times, never allowing it to lapse — until now.