More than 2 million out-of-work Americans will lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the month unless Congress extends a jobless-aid program that's set to expire.
The US currently has about 4.1 million workers who have been out of a job for at least 6 mos. About 1/3 of them are still scraping by with help from a program that Congress temporarily expanded in 2008 in response to the financial crisis and severe recession.
On Dec. 31, the federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation program is slated to expire. Once that happens, millions of people will lose their unemployment benefits, and millions of families will face major hardship and financial crisis.
The lapse in benefits is also expected to slow the economy by costing 310,000 jobs and slowing GDP.