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Citing Improved Economy, GOP Does Not Extend Jobless Benefits By Jim Abrams Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Citing the improving economy, Republicans decided Monday against extending federal unemployment benefits before Congress leaves for the year. Democrats said it would mean a joyless Christmas for tens of thousands of jobless Americans. <snip>
Federal unemployment benefits, which supplement state payments to the jobless, have been extended three times since March 2002. Without legislative action, they will be phased out beginning Dec. 21.
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said extending the benefits was unjustified when unemployment is going down in the country. "It's a question of whether we continue to be in an extraordinary unemployment environment, and we are not," Blunt said.
Most states provide up to 26 weeks of aid to people who lose their jobs. In March last year, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and a downturn in the economy, Congress voted to add 13 weeks in federal benefits, with extra help for jobless Americans in states with high unemployment rates. That emergency help has been extended three times. <snip>
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