Thursday, July 22, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is one House vote away from resuming unemployment payments to millions of people whose benefits have lapsed as the nation suffers through a wretched job market.
President Barack Obama is set to sign the bill as soon as Congress can ship it to him. The Senate broke through months of stalemate in passing the measure Wednesday by a 59-39 vote. The House was expected to pass it later today.
Some 2.5 million people who have been out of work for six months or more and have seen their jobless benefits lapse would receive back payments within a few weeks.
Obama promised to sign the measure quickly once the House acts and denounced the "weeks of parliamentary roadblocks by a partisan minority" that had stalled approval in the Senate.