Officials to seek unemployment benefits extension

[August 03, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's top economic advisers say the administration will work with Congress to extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans.

The head of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, said Sunday that the administration is already looking ahead at an extension of benefits as that money runs out.

Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York says people who soon will lose their unemployment benefits deserve an extension. He says they are "the true victims" of the nation's financial disaster.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina says he also supports an extension of benefits.

Romer appeared Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" while Rangel and DeMint spoke to "Fox News Sunday."

[Associated Press]

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