By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON, Dec 27 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Democrats will make a major push when Congress returns Jan. 6 to renew expired benefits for the unemployed and will seek to pressure Republicans over the issue by painting them as uncaring toward the middle class.
Federal unemployment benefits will officially expire for 1.3 million out-of-work Americans on Saturday. With Congress in recess, no last-minute fix is possible.
Democrats have spent much of the holiday week criticizing Republicans for resisting an extension of the emergency jobless aid program, which began in 2008 under President George W. Bush and has been extended every year since then.
The federal benefits kick in once people exhaust their state jobless benefits, which end in many states after 26 weeks.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has vowed to make an extension of the benefits the top issue in his chamber when Congress returns on Jan. 6.
The issue is part of an economic agenda aimed at winning support from middle-class Americans. Along with the push for an extension of unemployment insurance, Democrats will also push for an increase in the minimum wage.
The renewal of unemployment benefits is expected to face opposition in the Republican-led House of Representatives, but Democrats said this week they are increasingly optimistic about gaining political traction for the issue.
Democrats have been highlighting the personal stories of out-of-work Americans about to be bumped off the unemployment rolls.
PLIGHT OF MOTHERS
An ad running on cable television by the liberal group Americans United for Change accuses Republicans of putting the interests of the wealthy above those of ordinary Americans and spoiling Christmas for the unemployed.
Earlier this week, House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, held a conference call with reporters to highlight the plight of unemployed mothers.
The White House is also hammering the message.
"As the president has repeatedly made clear, it defies economic sense, precedent and our values to allow 1.3 million Americans fighting to find jobs to see their unemployment insurance abruptly cut off - especially in the middle of the holiday season," Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council, said in a statement.
Obama, who is spending the holidays in Hawaii with his family, on Friday telephoned Democratic Senator Jack Reed and Republican Senator Dean Heller, the sponsors of a measure that would temporarily extend the federal unemployment benefits.
Congressional Democrats, on the defensive over the botched rollout of Obama's signature healthcare law, view a focus on economic issues as a chance to improve their prospects in the midterm congressional elections in November.