Unemployment benefits are being presented as a form of welfare even by most people who support their extension.
However, unemployment benefits are an insurance program, much like Social Security. People pay into the fund when they are working, to use it when they are unemployed. For folks who have a job, this deduction is usually itemized on your paycheck. This is why most part-time and contract workers do not qualify.
Personally, I have no problem with welfare - however, a program losses public popularity when it is stigmatized in that way. As something only 'other' people receive. Social Security and UI insurance are popular because they apply to a much wider scope of the population, and progressive minded people should resist their stigmatization.
A much better article on this was written at SF Gate, by Y Benjamin: "Jim Bunning: The senator of meanness"
He writes:
Bunning forgets this is UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS. The people who are get unemployment insurance PAID FOR INSURANCE. Some people have paid unemployment insurance all their lives and are using the benefit for the first time. This is NOT welfare or some gimme entitlement. People paid into an unemployment insurance pool to get this benefit.
What happened to the unemployment insurance pool we have all been paying for? Congress and the various state legislators raided it to pay for wasteful departments and programs.