Unemployment benefits at stake in fiscal cliff deal

Much of the fiscal cliff discussion focuses on the tax impact to wealthy Americans, but those at the other end of the economic spectrum could be hit as well.

Hanging on the fiscal cliff negotiations are extended jobless benefits for 2.1 million Americans, USA Today reports. Those benefits will expire on Dec. 29 unless Washington finds a way to renew them.

Congressional Democrats are demanding that those benefits for the long-term unemployed be renewed. "We have 2 million families that are in a very difficult situation if we do not extend unemployment insurance benefits," Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said in a press conference, according to The Huffington Post. "This is the real cliff." Republicans haven't said much about the issue, the Post reports.

In states with the highest unemployment rates, jobless folks can get a maximum 73 weeks of combined federal benefits. That's down from the previous limit of 99 weeks.

Many states provide another 26 weeks of unemployed benefits, paying about half of their lost wages. But those benefits will run out for about 930,000 people in early 2013, USA Today reports, citing figures from the National Employment Law Project.

"Congress needs to see its way to reauthorize this program so it doesn't lapse," Judy Conti, NELP's federal advocacy coordinator, told the newspaper. "It's the middle of winter, it's the only income some people have, it keeps their homes heated, roofs over their head, and it also allows them to feed their children."

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