How long should the US extend jobless benefits?

As the nation’s job-creating machine sputters toward recovery, it’s the question that virtually no lawmaker is addressing publicly: How long is long enough? How long should the country offer unemployment benefits to the folks caught in the grip of the downturn?

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For millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Floridians, it is much more than a policy debate. It’s a matter of paying the mortgage and keeping the lights on, but the issue has been pushed to the back burner by other priorities. “No one’s really stepped forward on this yet,” said Judy Conti, the federal programs coordinator for the National Employment Law Project, a worker-advocacy group. “They just haven’t been talking about it.” Why? As a practical matter, federal lawmakers have been preoccupied by another unemployment issue. They are working to ensure that the existing tiers of unemployment benefits are guaranteed through 2010. Twice this year they’ve had to pass 30-day emergency extensions because the law authorizing the programs ran out. And twice, those extensions were challenged by Republican legislators worried about the cost. So supporters of an extended benefits plan are focused on passing a law that reauthorizes the programs for the rest of the year. Until that’s in place, so-called…

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How long should the US extend jobless benefits?

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