Explanation of the unemployment extension passed by the senate

"The typical unemployment benefits package before the current recession tended to last 26 weeks in most states.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) included in the stimulus package created three tiers of additional coverage. Tier one typically lasts up to 20 weeks, Tier two typically lasts up to 14 weeks, Tier three typically lasts up to 13 weeks. For those who have exhausted a regular unemployment account and federal EUC, there is are also Federal-State Extended Benefits (EB) which can run up to an additional 13 weeks. These numbers vary a bit from state-to-state, but the bottom line is that no one is able to get unemployment benefits longer than a total of 99 weeks.

The current jobs bill doesn't extend any of those tiers or add any additional coverage, such as a fourth or fifth tier.

What it does do is extend the deadlines for people to move from one tier to the next. Prior to the “phase out” period, if an applicant exhausts a tier of EUC benefits, he/she moves to the next tier. If he or she exhausts the third tier of EUC, he or she moves to Federal-State Extended Benefits. Under federal law, when the “phase out” period begins applicants will no longer be able to move from regular UI to the first tier of EUC or from one tier of EUC to the next.

Instead, if an applicant exhausts regular UI, or the first or second tier of EUC, he or she will move directly to Federal-State Extended benefits. The new legislation moves the beginning of the phase out period from April 5, 2010 to September 5, 2010. But by the end of 2010, everyone's extended benefits will have been exhausted, whether they have moved through all the tiers of coverage or not.

So the bottom line is that this isn't an unemployment "extension" as most cable news viewers would define it."

http://www.allyourtv.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=990&catid=990