LANSING – Governor Rick Snyder on Monday signed a measure that would extend current unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks, but cut the number of weeks a worker would eligible for state benefits starting in 2012.

Snyder signed HB 4408 on Monday, saying in a press release that the bill would provide a lifeline of additional unemployment benefits for those who faced losing extended benefits beginning April 1.

That could mean as many as 35,000 workers in the state who would not have been eligible for benefits running from the 79th to 99th week, Snyder said.

But the statement did not say that under the measure workers signing up for the first time for jobless benefits would only be eligible for 20 weeks of benefits from the state instead of the previous 26 weeks.

That would make Michigan the only state, at least for now, to now offer fewer than 26 weeks of eligibility.

Snyder signed the bill as all eight Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation – U.S. Sen. Carl Levin of Detroit and U.S Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing, and U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke of Detroit, U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Detroit, U.S. Rep. John Dingell of Dearborn, U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee of Flint, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin of Royal Oak and U.S. Rep. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township – sent him a letter urging him to veto the measure instead.

The bill, they said, would “turn back the clock on 50 years of needed protections for the unemployed in Michigan.”

The funding provided by the benefit is critical to workers, they said, “The unemployment insurance program is a vital lifeline to workers and their families. The average weekly benefit is only $297 and allows families to put food on the table and stay in their homes.” Cutting the number of weeks of benefits would make Michigan live with the distinction of cutting off benefits at a time when the state and nation are struggling with high unemployment, they said.

A spokesperson for Snyder said last week he would have been willing to sign a measure that kept the state at 26 weeks of benefits, but the votes for the measure were not there. The spokesperson also said Snyder may be willing to look at changing the weeks back if the federal government votes to restore the unemployment benefits program before the end of the year.

But Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said in a press release that both Snyder and Michigan Republicans were out of touch with reality on the issue and the necessity for some people for unemployment benefits.

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