trying to repair bush's economy

Bush signs jobless benefits extension

WASHINGTON – With no end in sight to economic bad news, President George W. Bush on Friday ensured that millions of laid-off workers will keep getting their unemployment checks as the year-end holidays approach.

Bush signed an extension of jobless benefits into law just before 8 a.m., as he was preparing to leave the White House for a morning flight to Lima, Peru, to attend the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Congressional leadership rushed the bill to the White House after it was approved Thursday to make the unusually quick bill signing possible before Bush left the country.

Later Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is expected to formally approve a plan to provide insurance for loans between banks for more than three years, guaranteeing the new debt in the event the issuing bank failed or its holding company filed for bankruptcy. The guarantees under the program, part of the government's financial rescue plan aimed at breaking the crippling logjam in bank-to-bank lending, could reach as much as $1.4 trillion.

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