Labor

1_262014_ap5121279704878201.jpg

"I've been doing lots of events and the overwhelming sentiment is that we need to extend emergency unemployment compensation for million of Americans who are still looking for work but can't find it," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat. (associated press)

1_262014_nsa-surveillance8201.jpg

President Obama's State of the Union address will strike themes intended to fire up Democratic voters for the midterm elections, including proposals for a nearly 40 percent hike in the federal minimum wage and an extension of long-term unemployment benefits. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

59f61c59ad710b034a0f6a706700f2a6.jpg

FILE - In this June 27, 2013 photo, Ty Fahner, right, head of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, speaks during a public pension hearing in Chicago. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn heads into his State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014 with his top priority of pension reform inked into the law. Quinn's role in the pension overhaul has been criticized. Fahner said it wasn’t until 2011, two years after Quinn took office, that Quinn took it seriously. By that time Illinois’ pension crisis was evolving into a national embarrassment. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, file)

04e2b915ad6e0b034a0f6a706700bb24.jpg

FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2013 file photo, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, right, watches as the voting begins on the pension reform bill at the state Capitol in Springfield, Ill. The House passed the bill with a vote of 62-53. Gov. Pat Quinn's role in the pension overhaul will be one of the spotlights his State of the State address on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, where to lays out the goals in a year where he faces re-election and recaps his accomplishments. How much credit the Chicago Democrat can take for what he’s called the signature achievement of his governorship is up for debate. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, Justin L. Fowler, File)

910fe39bad6c0b034a0f6a706700b263.jpg

FILE - In this Dec. 24, 2013 file photo, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Chicago. Quinn heads into his State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, with his top priority of pension reform inked into the law. The speech is a chance for him to lay out goals in a year where he faces re-election and recap his accomplishments. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

04149c57ad890b034a0f6a706700a4fc.jpg

Spectators view the historic locomotive, Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 at Metrolink Station, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014, in Covina, Calif. The locomotive will head for Colton over the next several weeks before No. 4014 departs for Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyo. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

d9f066d3ad890b034a0f6a706700f01e.jpg

Miguel Angel Warner, right, 4, of Los Angeles, asks Ed Dickens, left, senior manager of Heritage Operations about the historic locomotive, Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 at Metrolink Station, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014, in Covina, Calif. The locomotive will head for Colton over the next several weeks before No. 4014 departs for Union Pacific's Heritage Fleet Operations headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyo. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

4918d9ccad0309034a0f6a70670031ad.jpg

Robert Clark poses for a photo outside of his office on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014, in Menlo Park, Calif. Clark has recently signed up for health insurance using the new federal marketplace. Parents shopping for health insurance through the new federal marketplace are running into trouble when their children might be eligible for Medicaid but they are not. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

b2b8f13dacc008034a0f6a7067004ce3.jpg

Assemblyman Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, a sponsor to raise the state's minimum wage, works in the Assembly Chamber at the state Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. Minimum wage proposals are getting a maximum push from Democrats in statehouses around the nation this year. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)