Senate Dems want one-year unemployment extension

With at least two million Americans facing the loss of their federal unemployment benefits starting tomorrow, Senate Democrats are pushing for a relatively long-term extension of those benefits — a full year, something they haven’t done in quite some time.

The Hill reports:

As our nation continues to battle high unemployment rates, we must act immediately to continue vital safety-net coverage for those most in need,” the lawmakers said Monday in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

Lawmakers are requesting an extension through the end of 2011, identical to what the White House is seeking.

Long-term renewal of the federal programs “are necessary to keep our economy on the road to recovery as well as to keep food on the table and a roof over the head of families across America,” the letter said.

Getting that through the Senate seems highly unlikely given the $65 billion price tag. The federal government has never in history failed to extend additional unemployment benefits with the jobless rate over 7.2 percent. The current rate is 9.6 percent.