Unemployment Benefits Extension 2010?

2010 is tough and people are getting more desperate as the time runs out and job searching seems to be futile. Now it seems the Congress has passed the vote to move forward the 30-day unemployment benefits extension.

The Senate voted 60 to 34 to move forward with extending federal unemployment benefits. It has become a familiar Washington exercise for Democrats to propose a short-term benefits extension and for many Republicans to oppose it because of cost.

The House approved the same measure in March, so it will go to President Obama's desk if it clears the Senate without amendments.

Who were the republicans that voted to move the bill forward?

Four Republicans -- Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and George V. Voinovich (Ohio) -- joined every Democrat present in voting to move the Unemployment Benefits Extension 2010 forward, making it likely that the measure will pass in a final tally later this week.

Despite objections from conservative Republicans, the Senate voted 60 to 34 to move ahead with a measure that would keep checks flowing to jobless Americans who are exhausting their benefits and maintain federal subsidies for health insurance for the unemployed. The measure must clear other procedural hurdles, but Democrats hope to win its approval this week.

The $9 billion cost of the aid would be added to the deficit, which Democrats said was justified because of the grim national employment picture.

Benefits for thousands expired April 5 after Republicans blocked an extension because its $9 billion cost would be added to the government’s $1.5 trillion deficit. Republicans insisted the cost be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget, while Democrats called the measure an emergency that could be added to the deficit.

On a conference call earlier Monday, Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) said that about 212,000 long-term unemployed people had exhausted their benefits in the past week, and that by the end of the month nearly a million Americans would have done so.

If the Senate Democrats are successful in passing the bill this week, they will face the potential of a third protracted political battle unless they can move a separate measure extending the jobless benefits again for the rest of the year.