Congress skirmishes over unemployment benefits

Partisan bickering over unemployment benefits and the payroll tax cut continued last week. At stake are nearly 2 million people whose benefits would be cut off in January if extended unemployment benefits are not renewed this year.

Both long-term unemployment benefits and President Obama’s payroll tax cut could prove crucial to the U.S. economic recovery. Unemployment benefits are thought to promote demand, since families collecting unemployment insurance tend to spend the money right away. And the payroll tax cut is an effort to promote hiring at companies still wary in the slow recovery.

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