This provision would further extend unemployment benefits under the stimulus act, allowing 14 additional weeks of collections across the board. In high unemployment states, this measure will provide 14 extra weeks of benefits for all individuals but 20 for those in the high unemployment states, bringing the total number of weeks to receive unemployment benefits from 59 to 79.

The provision was passed as part of the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 along with an expansion of net operating loss carryback rules and an extension of the homebuyer tax credit.

In total, the provision would cost $2.4 billion. This would be offset, however, through temporarily higher unemployment payroll taxes.