RaceWire, the blog of ColorLines magazine, invited TheDefendersOnline to cross-post key stories of interest to our readers. Here they weigh in on the recent Senate move to extend unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of American workers.

Senate Okays Unemployment Benefit Extension and Gets Ready to Do it All Over Again Next Month

By Seth Freed Wessler

After an afternoon of long-winded speeches from both sides of the aisle, the Senate voted to move forward with the extension of unemployment benefits. The vote comes after the Senate failed to pass an extension before going on break more than two weeks ago. In that time, more than 200,000 people were pushed off of unemployment benefits.

Four Republicans broke with their party and voted to move forward with the final passage of an extension. Several more proceedural hurdles remain and a final extension is likely to be voted on Thursday. Republicans could still block passage though procedural challenges. If the Senate fails to act though, another 200,000 will lose benefits next week.

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