A bill to extend unemployment aid has been signed by President Obama yesterday, according to The Examiner. CQ Politics News reported that the bill, named HR4213, would extend the unemployment benefits to November 30 and provide "100 percent federal funding to state unemployment programs to cover additional implementation costs."

U.S. News reports that it would "restore benefits to about 2.5 million people who have been unemployed for the past six months," according to the Department of Labor, with benefits lasting up to 99 weeks depending on the state's unemployment rate. Republicans agree that extensions should be added, but are concerned with how much the $34 billion borrowed for the bill would add to the $13 trillion federal deficit and have instead suggested "using leftover funds from the stimulus and other spending bills to offset the cost."

The economist Lawrence Summers, Director of the White House's National Economic Council, wrote in his blog the reasons for the necessity of such a bill. He writes that with these benefits, families are "most likely to spend the money- which in turn expands the economy and creates jobs." He also states that unemployment aid has been identified "as one of the two most cost-effective policy options for increasing economic production and employment", according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Summers additionally disagrees with the claim that unemployment benefits cause the unemployment today. Instead, he writes that "with five unemployed Americans seeking work for every job opening available, there can be little doubt that the overwhelming cause of unemployment is not a lack of will among the jobless to find work, but a lack of work opportunities."

Associated Content reports that those unemployed in New Jersey, which has a 9.6 percent unemployment rate, will receive their retroactive payment checks within the next few weeks.

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