Niagara Falls, N.Y. ? Labor commissioners from 18 states, including Kansas, are urging the U.S. Senate to immediately act to extend unemployment benefits for 300,000 people who will exhaust theirs in another week.

New York Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith was in Niagara Falls on Thursday with her counterparts from around the country for a meeting of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

At a news conference, Smith and officials from 17 other states pushed the Senate to follow the House’s lead and agree to give the jobless in states with unemployment rates topping 8.5 percent an additional 13 weeks of benefits.