Federal Emergency Long Term Unemployment Benefits Come to an End

Some 1.3 million Americans are set to lose their unemployment benefits Saturday, escalating a battle between proponents of smaller government and advocates for the jobless who say the move will hurt the overall economy. 

Federal emergency benefits will end when funds run out for a program created during the recession to supplement the benefits that states provide. The cutoff will initially affect 1.3 million people, but 1.9 million more will lose benefits by mid-2014 when their 26 weeks of state paychecks run out, according to the National Employment Law Project. 

Benefits average about $300 a week.

"From a human level, cutting 1.3 million Americans off their lifeline doesn't make any sense and it's not anything we should be doing," Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Thursday in a conference call with reporters. 

Opponents say it's time to end the program now that unemployment has fallen from a Oct. 2009 peak of 10% to 7.0%. 

"These are called emergency benefits," says economist Chris Edwards of the libertarian Cato Institute. "The U.S. economy has been out of recession for over four years."

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