RALEIGH, N.C. — Sen. Kay Hagan wants North Carolina to rejoin the rest of the states whose long-term unemployed residents could again benefit from emergency unemployment benefits should Congress restore them nationwide in the new year.

Hagan scheduled a Monday news conference in Raleigh with Democratic leaders of the General Assembly to talk about a provision that would make North Carolina eligible again to offer these federal benefits to the jobless. These benefits went away in North Carolina back in July after the legislature scaled back state benefits going forward.