Washington Post (11/12/12) Michael A. Fletcher

Approximately two million people may lose their unemployment insurance by the end of 2012 unless Congress takes action. Another one million could lose their benefits by April. More than five million Americans have been jobless for more than six months—the point at which most states cut off state-funded unemployment insurance. Federal benefits are designed to provide support to unemployed workers who have exhausted their state benefits.

“We cannot forget the human cliff looming for more than two million Americans scheduled to lose their economic lifeline during the upcoming holidays,” says U.S. House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sander Levin (D-MI).