LANSING, MI (WTVB) - Approximately 87-thousand Michigan residents could lose their unemployment benefits by the end of the year, if an extension is not approved by Congress.  U.S. Representative Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on theHouse Waysand Means Committee, calls the December 29th deadline for the extension of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation, "a human cliff." 

Without an extension the length of time a person in Michigan could be eligible to receive benefits would be cut from a maximum of 54 weeks down to 20 weeks. 

This happens during a time when there are more people in the state receiving those benefits.  Last week, the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency said that the number of people inMichiganreceiving benefits increased from nearly 160-thousand in September to over 172-thousand in October.  Nationwide around two-million people are affected by what Congress decides on this issue.