House agrees to extend jobless benefits

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The House of Representatives on Thursday approved extending some federal unemployment insurance benefits, but since the Senate has not yet agreed to an extension, more than 1 million jobless workers remain cut off from the weekly checks. House lawmakers voted 270 to 153 to approve a six-month extension for the benefits, funding them through November. A motion in the Senate to move forward with an extension was blocked Wednesday night, and that chamber isn’t expected to take up the bill again until July 12 at the earliest. Without the extension, the U.S. Labor Department estimates that more than 1 million people lost benefits in June, and a total of more than 3 million will lose them by the end of July. Extending the benefits through November would cost about $34 billion.