Minnesota senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar voted yes to a bill extending unemployment benefits for seven weeks.

Voting 89 for and six against, the Senate on Thursday advanced a bill (HR 6867) authorizing between seven and 20 additional weeks of jobless checks for those who have used up or soon will exhaust previous allotments. The bill was later passed on a non-record vote and signed into law by President Bush. The filing period for receiving the extended benefits will end Aug. 27, 2009.

Each state sets its own unemployment-compensation rules in keeping with federal requirements that begin with a base allotment of 26 weeks for the newly jobless. Under this bill, the number of additional weeks will range from seven in states with sparse benefits and comparatively low unemployment to 13 or 20 in states with at least 6 percent unemployment. These extra weeks will be in addition to extended benefits beyond 26 weeks that were enacted in July.

Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said: "Finding a new job is far more difficult as the recession deepens. More than two million Americans have been unable to find work for more than six months. If Congress fails to extend benefits again this year, nearly 1.2 million Americans will have exhausted their benefits by the end of the year."

No senator spoke against the bill.