Congress moves to extend unemployment benefits

The Senate and House are both moving to extend costly unemployment insurance benefits included in the $787 billion economic stimulus package amid fears about a jobless recovery and growing fiscal deficits.

The nation's unemployment rate stands at 9.4 percent and actually dipped one-tenth of a point in July, but is widely expected to increase in coming months. Unemployment hasn't been this high in a quarter-century, and a record number of workers have been unemployed for an extended period of more than 27 weeks.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed (D), whose state has a 12.4 percent unemployment rate that trails only Michigan, introduced legislation Friday to extend enhanced unemployment benefits through the end of 2010. The benefits were first included in the stimulus bill and are set to expire at the end of the year.

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