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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is urging the House to embrace a Senate-passed measure to resurrect federal jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.
Obama says the Senate acted in a bipartisan way on Monday by voting to reinstate emergency unemployment insurance for 2.3 million Americans.
In a statement, Obama says Washington must put politics aside to help people make ends meet. He says every week Congress fails to act, about 70,000 long-term unemployed Americans lose benefits.
He urged House Republicans to stop blocking what he calls a bipartisan compromise. He says the House should take up the bill immediately and send it to his desk so the nation can eliminate an economic drag.
The Senate voted 59-38 for the measure. But the bill's prospects in the House are cloudy at best.
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