Holiday cheer may be a little harder to come by in more than a million American households starting today, 79,000 of them in New Jersey.

The nation's long-term unemployed will be abruptly cut off from federal unemployment benefits after lawmakers left Washington without voting on an extension. Recipients will lose an average monthly stipend of $1,166.

While top Senate Democrat Harry Reid says the chamber will vote early next month on extending the benefits, one Ohio woman who lost her job in February says the damage has been done -- saying Congress "shut down my lifeline for my family."

House Speaker John Boehner has said he's open to extending the benefits, but only if accompanied by spending cuts elsewhere to cover the cost.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

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