The U.S. Senate voted in favor of restoring expired benefits for the long-term unemployed on Monday, but now the bill must go to the House where it will likely flounder.
The vote was 59-38 in favor of again providing benefits for those who have been unemployed for six months or longer, reports Reuters.
President Barack Obama took to Twitter and wrote, "The Senate just took action on a bipartisan bill," and urged "the House to follow suit."
Though the bill will likely struggle in the House, some House Republicans have already come forward urging the passing of the bill, according to The Associated Press. Seven Republicans reached out through a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
They wrote that action must be taken "to restore unemployment benefits to struggling Americans."
But the bill seems to have little Republican support in the Senate as only six Senators voted in favor on Monday. The bill had been put forward by Democrats when Congress returned from break at the beginning of the year. Democrats did compromise some on the bill by including spending cuts to pay for the $9.6 billion legislation.
The extension would last for five months and pay long-term unemployed about $256 a week.
Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel made it sound like Boehner likely isn't going to support this particular bill because it doesn't include "provisions to help create private sector jobs."