Washington ? Already facing a sputtering economy and slow hiring, nearly 800,000 unemployed Americans face a new woe today when their federal unemployment benefits end.

Democrats and labor unions, sensing political opportunity, are blaming the cuts on President Bush and Republicans in Congress. Bush, in a late show of support for an extension, urged Congress last week to get it done when lawmakers return to work next month.

“Regrettably, the House Republican leadership turned their backs on these families and refused to act, and the administration chose not to intervene before Congress adjourned,” Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Friday. “This inaction by Republicans was unconscionable then and it is even more so now.”

Congress left for the year without extending the federal benefits, meaning that 750,000 to 800,000 unemployed workers will get cut off today. Another 95,000 jobless workers will exhaust their state benefits each week afterward. Already, 1 million people have exhausted all of their benefits.

In Kansas, 5,850 of the state’s approximately 66,000 residents on unemployment will lose their benefits today as a result of the deadline, said Bill Layes, chief of labor market information for the state.

Bush has sent a “very strong message” to Congress to extend the benefits and make them retroactive, said Labor Department spokeswoman Kathleen Harrington. The agency is confident that benefits will be extended, she said, and has been relaying that to governors calling with questions.

Some states will continue to process claims for benefits and at least one state, Idaho, will keep paying them with the expectation that funding will be available early next year.