The plan also includes an extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless.
Sen. Dick Durbin held a roundtable discussion Sunday with unemployed people from the Chicago area. He says without that extension, 135,000 people in Illinois will lose benefits in December, and another 126,000 will lose their unemployment by the end of February.
Durbin says that unemployment money provides an economic stimulus.
"Economists tell us that the money sent out in unemployment checks is spent immediately. People aren't banking or investing this. They're spending it because they have expenses they have to meet," Durbin said.
"My unemployment check covers my rent and my car note, and if it gets stopped I'm going to have a repossessed car, and I'll probably be homeless," one woman said.
The U.S. Senate is expected to have a test vote on the entire package Monday.
