I hoped that this could be prevented, but the safety net for hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers just vanished, because yesterday, the Republican Party blocked a last ditch attempt to extend unemployment benefits. By year end, over two million workers will be cut off.

Federal unemployment benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans expired at midnight after Congress failed Tuesday to pass an extension for another year.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, took to the Senate floor Tuesday night to urge his colleagues to extend the benefits, but to no avail.

"Now it is time to govern. Now it is time to act. Now it is time to do what we have always done in a situation like this – to pass a promptly and timely extension of unemployment insurance benefits," Reed said.

"Acting now is the right thing to do, the responsible thing to do, the wise economic thing to do," he said.

He cited that the jobless benefits serve as an economic stimulus that is more effective than tax cuts for the wealthy, one of the Republicans’ priorities during the lame-duck Congress.

But Sen. Scott Brown, R-MA, objected to the Democrats’ bid to move forward with the jobless benefits bill… [emphasis added]