Two million jobless Americans face their own fiscal cliff if unemployment benefits expire

In the zillion words written about the tax-and-spending changes that make up what's being called the "fiscal cliff," one that has gotten little attention is the end of federally funded emergency extensions to unemployment insurance coverage. If nothing changes between now and Dec. 29, the Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee estimate that some two million Americans will be up jobless creek without the paddle provided by these emergency extensions.
Instantly these jobless Americans would be added to the millions who have already exhausted their benefits or were never eligible for them in the first place. The effect on them and the economy would be exceedingly painful. Recession-level painful. What a lovely Christmas present.
Household income would plunge to zero in many cases and force into poverty hundreds of thousands of others where one or more family members are lucky enough to have a job. It's estimated by the Congressional Research Service that unemployment compensation reduced the poverty rate for families receiving them in 2011 by 40 percent. It kept 600,000 children out of poverty.
As for the economy as a whole:

Mark Zandi from Moody’s Economy.com projects that allowing [emergency] benefits to end this year will reduce economic growth next year by $58 billion. Zandi testified earlier this year that “Emergency UI provides an especially large economic boost, as financially stressed unemployed workers spend any benefits they receive quickly.” The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) similarly concluded in a report this year that assistance for the unemployed has one of the “largest effects on employment per dollar of budgetary cost.”

Read more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/12/1160797/-Two-million-jobless-Americans-face-their-own-fiscal-cliff-if-unemployment-benefits-expire