(AP) Federal government ends extended jobless benefits
By AMY TAXIN and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
Associated Press
WESTMINSTER, Calif.
The end of unemployment checks for more than a million jobless Americans has driven people to consider selling cars, moving and taking minimum wage work after already slashing household budgets and pawning personal possessions.
The change affected 1.3 million people on Saturday and will affect hundreds of thousands more who remain jobless in the months ahead.
The Obama administration and Democrats in Congress want to continue the program but the extensions were dropped from a budget deal earlier this month. Republican lawmakers have balked at the program’s $26 billion annual cost.
Greg and Barbara Chastain of Huntington Beach, Calif. say they have exhausted their state unemployment benefits since losing work in June and now may uproot their family and move to save on rent.
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