"Americans who are working day and night to get back on their feet and support their families in these tough economic times deserve more than obstruction and partisan game-playing that happens too often here in Washington," Obama said after Wednesday's Senate vote.
The jobless stopped getting their checks in early June, after Congress failed to extend the deadline to apply for benefits.
Senate Republicans, as well as Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, prevented the legislation's passage, saying it should be paid for first. They suggested covering the $34 billion tab with unused stimulus money, a step the Senate Democratic leadership rejected.
Federal unemployment payments, which last up to 73 weeks, kick in after the state-funded 26 weeks of coverage expire. These federal benefits are divided into tiers, and the jobless must apply each time they move into a new tier.
The payments will be retroactive to the previous deadline of June 2. But it could take up to a month for states to start sending the checks again, experts said.
0:00/2:26I've been out of work since...Lynda Kahn of Coral Springs, Fla., can't wait to get that check. She stopped getting benefits last week and applied for Medicaid, only to be turned down because she doesn't have dependent children. But she did get a supermarket gift card from a local charity to supplement her $200 a month food stamp allotment.
Kahn depends on her unemployment check, which was $275 a week plus a $25 stimulus-funded supplement that will be discontinued. She lost her job as a manager for a doctor's office last August.
"It covers my mortgage payment," she said.
Jobless benefits extension is mired in political bickeringSenate votes to extend jobless lifeline
