Associated Press
 
February 4, 2010
 
SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon House has voted to extend jobless checks for six weeks for about 18,600 Oregonians who have exhausted their benefits, or soon will.
 
Democratic legislative leaders identified it as one of the key bills of the four-week session that began this week.
 
It passed the House unanimously on Thursday, with representatives acknowledging it's a small step in a state with a jobless rate of 11 percent and 217,000 people drawing unemployment checks.
 
The extension will cost about $19 million. The money was left over from a bill passed last year.
 
The measure goes to the Senate.