CNN
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With special pandemic unemployment benefits set to expire in the next few weeks, opera singer Brian Montgomery is making plans to leave the country.
Since March, Montgomery – a New Yorker who also works as a voice teacher and tour guide – has not been able to find steady work, but he’s gotten weekly payments thanks to the historic expansion of benefits under the $2 trillion federal stimulus package. But now, with Congress stalled on a fresh relief deal, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program will run out just after Christmas.