Governor signs bill extending unemployment benefits for 13 weeks

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Gov. Scott Walker will sign a bill Wednesday that gives up to 13 more weeks of jobless benefits to Wisconsin’s long-term unemployed.

A late afternoon ceremony was planned at the state Capitol.

It will take three or four days from when the bill is signed to start processing retroactive claims for the new jobless benefits. The benefits will go to approximately 40,000 Wisconsinites who’ve exhausted their 73 weeks of regular and emergency benefits.

The Wisconsin Senate voted on Monday to free up $89 million federal stimulus dollars to provide the added benefits. The bill also restores a one-week waiting period for the newly unemployed to receive benefits once they apply.

Senators removed the waiting period last month, but the Assembly put it back – and majority Senate Republicans said they would have held up the extended benefits had they not gone along with the waiting period this week.

Tags: news, government, legislature