WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- Efforts to extend unemployment benefits to millions of U.S. citizens found political support when the jobless rate jumped in April, political observers said.
The nation's unemployment rate rose 0.5 percent to 5.5 percent, the largest monthly rise in more than 20 years.
But, a veto threat from the White House has given House Democrats reason to re-think their strategy during an election year, the Politico, a political Web site, reported Tuesday.
The current benefit extension package is tied to the $165.4 billion Iraq war appropriations bill and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., does not want a veto to extend the defense budget debate, the report said.
Democrats are considering a free-standing unemployment benefits extension bill, but the Bush administration contends the unemployment picture is healthier than when benefits were extended in the past.
Benefits were extended in the 1980s, when the unemployment rate was 10.1 percent, but they were also extended in 2002, when the rate was 5.7 percent, not long after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, which disrupted the economy, the report said.
