Some new numbers are shocking.By the end of the month, more than 400,000 people nationwide will exhaust their unemployment benefits.

But, a new bill is working its way through the House that could throw them a "life-line".

Action News Anchor, Tiffani Sargent spoke with one man, who says it's about time Congress stepped up to help the average American, still he wonders who's going to foot the bill?

Still, if this legislation, that's called The Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009, passes, it could mean 13 additional weeks of federally funded benefits.

And for many it could be the difference between living at home or living on the street.

"What I did was put together a market piece for myself," said Don.

Like thousands of Nevadans, Don Beson's full-time job is looking for a job.

Don says, "I'm one of 3, 4, 500 applicants, and then of course there are people that are more recently trained more recent schooling..coming out of fortune 500 companies and the competition is pretty steep."

According to the National Employment Law Project, over the last year, an record 51% of those who are unemployed couldn't find a job within the first six months of receiving benefits.

But, after hearing that Congress is considering a Bill that would extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks for more than a million Americans, Don is very relieved.

Still, Don's case is different because he's actually appealing to get his unemployment benefits back after accepting a job that didn't pan out. 

Tiffani asked, "So, you think they should have kind of a do-over clause or just a forgiveness clause?"

And Don replied, "I think so, I guess Tiffani that's a good way of putting it. They should encourage people to have that entrepreneurial spirit to take risks and go out there and do whatever they can and not be afraid that if they do their benefits are going to get cut off."

Still, despite Don's situation, he and many others wonder how the federal government will be able to afford to extend unemployment benefits and bail out 27 "over-extended" states.

Don says, "Still, we owe it to everybody to find out how we're going to pay for it..it's standard business 101."

At this time, Nevada is among those 27 other states, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that currently have unemployment rates above 8.5% and who qualify for the possible extension of unemployment benefits. 

The bill passed through the House easily.Meantime, Senate Democrats say they will try to address the measure immediately after the House votes.

Be sure to stay with Action News for any further information on the legislation.

You can find the CNN article at: http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/22/news/economy/extending_unemployment_benefits/index.htm