Jobless fear benefits will end shortly

Without another extension, people losing their job -- and their COBRA coverage -- as of March 1 won't get the 15 weeks of health care payments and people out of work now will only get to finish their current tier of unemployment insurance, without extra checks.

Norm Isotalo, a spokesman for the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency, said Monday that 290,000 Michigan workers on one of the four tiers of the federal emergency program that provide up to 53 weeks of benefits beyond the initial 26-week period would see benefits end between now and July without an extension.

And another program with an another 20 weeks of benefits would disappear by late March without more federal funding, he said.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., appeared prepared to try to move a short extension -- one of perhaps up to 15 days -- to give Congress breathing room to pass a longer one soon thereafter.

This week's bill may only be round one. The Senate is expected to take up additional jobs legislation in the weeks ahead. The speculation is that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to hold the unemployment and COBRA extensions to use as a vehicle for another jobs bill down the road because these provisions are critical and unlikely to be voted down.

However, labor leaders and liberal advocacy groups have expressed concern that Senate Democrats may not be able to muster the 60 votes necessary to pass additional jobs bills.