Two Month Unemployment Benefits Extension; Unemployment Benefits Extended To February 2010
Congress passed a two-month unemployment extension bill for those who were facing the possibility of losing their unemployment insurance benefits. The unemployment benefits extension program is set to go into February 2010, but there has been a great deal of confusion as to what the unemployment extension means and who qualifies. Originally, a six-month extension was wanted, however, the bill passed a two-month extension, which does the following:
To begin, the extension will allow the continuation of Emergency Unemployment Continuation Program, which provides unemployment benefits in relation to a specific state’s unemployment rate. Secondly, the unemployment benefits extension continues the Extended Benefits Program, which added 13 to 20 weeks of unemployment benefits to unemployment benefits for certain states. Also, Federal Additional Compensation will continue and under this program unemployment benefits were increased by $25 per week.
These three areas of unemployment benefits are what will continue under the two-month unemployment extension by Congress. As far as who specifically qualifies for these extensions will be determined by what stage or tier of the unemployment benefits process you are in, and as per the many questions and comments on rwbpress.com concerning similar articles on unemployment, consulting your local unemployment agency the best way to know if you qualify.
Any additional sources or info can be posted in the comments section to help others with this complex unemployment benefits extension or if you need some reading material consult the links below from the House of Representatives and Senate. The first link regarding unemployment benefits extension is the source for the main body of this article the others are from the bills in the Senate and House.
House: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/dod_summary.pdf
House: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/hr3548.pdf
Senate: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202009/102809ui.pdf