The National Employment Law Project reports that after weeks of delay, on November 4, 2009 the Senate voted 98-0 to extend jobless benefits by 14 weeks for every state and an additional 6 weeks (for a total of 20 weeks) in high-unemployment states where the jobless rate exceeds 8.5%.

The strong bi-partisan vote marks a major breakthrough for the nation's unemployed as 600,000 workers exhausted their unemployment benefits in September and October, and a total of 1.3 million are expected to exhaust their benefits by the end of the year.

The Senate's enthusiastic vote sets the stage for the House to quickly approve the extension and send it to the President this week for swift enactment.

"The Senate has approved strong legislation at a critical time. A stunning 600,000 workers ran out of jobless benefits in the past two months alone, and thousands more are projected to by the end of the year. Workers need this extension, the economy needs this extension - and that means the House needs to approve the Senate bill and send it to President Obama in a matter of days. Workers waited too long for this moment, and they - nor the economy - can afford to wait a moment longer," said Christine Owens, Executive Director of the National Employment Law Project.

The Senate's extension, part of the Worker Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, comes nearly one month after the Senate first introduced the proposal and multiple legislative delays that stalled the bill as more and more workers exhausted benefits on a daily basis.

The legislation would be fully paid for by a two-year continuation of an unemployment insurance surtax on employers? $14 per worker annually? that has been in place for 30 years.

With long-term unemployment at a record high, the maximum number of weeks of jobless benefits to date has been 79 weeks -- 26 weeks of regular state benefits plus up to 53 weeks under the two federal extensions previously passed (Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits). The federal extension weeks have varied by state, from 20-53 weeks, according to each state's unemployment level.