The White House is ramping up its efforts to get Congress to approve extended unemployment benefits for out-of-work Americans. Michigan's unemployment rate in October was the second-highest in the nation, at 12.8%.
The president's Council of Economic Advisers released a report that touts the need for extending benefits. The report says for the typical person getting unemployment, the benefits make up a third of the household income. As Presidential adviser Cecilia Rouse noted:
And in those 42% of households where the unemployed person was the sole wage earner, it's about 90 percent of the income. So it's quite an important source of income for these families.
The report says about 620,000 people in Michigan received benefits through October.
Republicans in Congress say the cost of extending the benefits is too high. They want to look at budget cuts and tax cut extensions first.
