WASHINGTON, July 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called for Senate Republicans to stop blocking extended unemployment benefits for millions of Americans who are out of work.

"It's time to stop blocking emergency relief for Americans who are out of work and extend unemployment insurance," Obama said in a statement issued by the White House.

He accused Senate Republicans for "holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics."

The bill, formally known as Emergency Unemployment Compensation, is a U.S. federal government program which assists states in providing additional weeks of unemployment benefits to workers who have been laid off due to no fault of their own.

The legislation, which has already cleared the House of Representatives on July 1, would retroactively restore benefits to recipients who as early as the end of May may have started losing their benefits. The Senate is scheduled to take up the measure on Tuesday.
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