Assocated Press | The Senate’s second-ranking Republican leader
says he expects GOP lawmakers will vote to extend unemployment benefits
this week — derailing a fellow Republican’s objections and filibuster
on the issue.

Fifteen thousand out-of-work residents in Illinois — and and estimated 1 million in the nation –  lost their unemployment benefits at
midnight Sunday because a filibuster on the Senate floor is blocking
legislation that would extend payments for 30 days. 

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona says the extension will pass, but only because
it’s temporary. The benefits are part of a larger package of government
programs that expired Sunday because senators couldn’t agree on how to
pay to
keep them going.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., described the situation as an “economic
emergency” and spoke out Sunday against Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky,
the lone Republican senator behind the filibuster. Bunning is against
the extension because the money to pay for it hasn’t been found.

Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, says if progress isn’t made soon,
65,000 more in Illinois will lose their benefits by the end of March.

This week, the Senate is expected to pass another temporary
extension of unemployment benefits. But Republican leaders say Congress
must find a way to pay for a long-term plan before the GOP will lend
its support.

Democrats couldn’t overcome the objections of Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky that the $10 billion measure would add to the budget deficit.

Kyl tells “Fox News Sunday” that a longer-term extension will cost much more — and Congress must find a way to pay for it before Republicans will go along.