WASHINGTON - The Senate was blocked from moving forward yesterday on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed, leaving it unlikely that Congress will approve the measure soon. The defeat undercut President Barack Obama's economic-recovery plan.

WASHINGTON � The Senate was blocked from moving forward yesterday on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed, leaving it unlikely that Congress will approve the measure soon. The defeat undercut President Barack Obama�s economic-recovery plan.

Fifty-nine senators, including four Republicans, voted to advance the legislation, falling one vote short of the 60 needed to break a Republican filibuster effort.

Republicans and Democrats � many of them from the nation�s most economically depressed states � had been trying to reach a solution that would allow people who have exhausted their unemployment insurance to continue receiving benefits as long as the government offset the $6 billion cost.

Ohio�s senators split on the measure: Democrat Sherrod Brown voted to halt the delaying tactics of opponents of extending benefits; Republican Rob Portman backed them.

Had Portman � or any one of 38 other Republicans � voted to end the delays, the bill would have won Senate approval

In a statement, Portman said he �worked with my colleagues to try to find a common-sense way forward to pay for a three-month extension of emergency unemployment benefits while reforms were put in place to better meet the needs of those who can�t find a job. Unfortunately, Majority Leader (Harry) Reid went ahead with his own proposal, and we ended up back where we started.�

Brown said that since the benefits expired at the end of last year, the Ohio economy has lost more than $66 million.

�My colleagues and I have proposed a deal that would pay for an extension in a responsible fashion that has received bipartisan support in the past,� Brown said. �Now it is time for both parties to come together and get this done.� Ultimately, how to pay for the program proved too big a hurdle for senators to overcome.

�We�ve given them everything they wanted � paid for,� said Reid, D-Nev., flashing his irritation at Republicans who blocked the bill.

He said Democrats will keep pushing to extend the benefits, which expired at the end of last year, leaving more than 1.3 million Americans cut off. That number has since increased to more than 1.7 million.

Democrats hope to turn the issue into an election-year cudgel and have been accusing Republicans of ignoring people who are out of work. Republicans have rejected that as political smoke.

�We know it�s a political game,� said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah. �We know they�d like to bring it up every three months and bash Republicans with it.�

Obama repeatedly has pressed Congress to extend the program, which was an emergency measure enacted during the recession to provide as much as 47 weeks of supplemental payments to the long-term unemployed.

But even if the Senate had moved forward, getting any extension through the Republican-controlled House was going to be difficult. Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, has said he would entertain a bill only if it was paid for and could stimulate job growth.

The Dispatch Washington bureau contributed to this story.