Progress Illinois

During their brief stay in Washington, U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation to create a fifth tier of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. Like a similar bill in the Senate, it would extend the maximum number of weeks of federal and state benefits available by 20 weeks in states with unemployment rates over 10 percent. (Illinois would qualify.)

The odds of passage are long. After all, no Republicans in the U.S. Senate backed the latest unemployment insurance bill, which was less expansive than this attempt. Undoubtedly, the Democratic leadership would have to carve out spending on other worthy programs to ensure the extension is deficit-neutral. But so long as the number of jobless workers far outweighs the number of job openings, it's a bill progressives ought rally behind.

Maybe Congress isn't ignoring the 99ers after all. In an interview with a local New York television station, which was flagged by the Michigan Messenger, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) hinted that he was interested in establishing a fifth tier of emergency unemployment benefits later this year. "There are some people who go beyond the 99 weeks," he said last Friday, "and we're gonna try to do that next."

Of course, no Republicans in the U.S. Senate backed the latest unemployment insurance bill, which was less aggressive than Schumer's latest pet project. That makes the odds of passage long. But it's a development you can bet the newly-radicalized online unemployment community will follow.