WASHINGTON – With no end in sight to economic bad news, President George W. Bush on Friday ensured that millions of laid-off workers will keep getting their unemployment checks as the year-end holidays approach.
Bush signed an extension of jobless benefits into law just before 8 a.m., as he was preparing to leave the White House for a morning flight to Lima, Peru, to attend the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Congressional leadership rushed the bill to the White House after it was approved Thursday to make the unusually quick bill signing possible before Bush left the country.
Earlier in the year, Bush expressed doubts about further benefit extensions, but he came to support the legislation as new figures showed new claims for jobless aid had reached a 16-year high.
In what could be its last vote of the year, the Senate approved a measure Thursday that would provide up to three months of extra benefits for those whose unemployment benefits have run out or are about to expire. The House passed the bill in October.
"With more Americans filing jobless claims than at any time since the 1992, the Senate's passage of the House's unemployment insurance extension legislation will help speed relief to more than 2 million workers who continue to search for new jobs in these difficult economic times," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
