Saying "enough is enough," Gov. Bev Perdue today issued an executive order extending benefits for 47,000 unemployed North Carolinians, Charlotte Observer staff writer Jim Morrill reports.

Perdue and Republican legislative leaders have been at odds for weeks over the extension, which expired in April.

An extension is included in a $19.7 billion GOP-backed state budget passed this week by the Senate and expected to be approved tomorrow by the House.

"Republicans in the legislature stubbornly cling to their political games," Perdue said in a statement.

GOP legislative leaders plan a 1:30 p.m. news conference to answer Perdue.

Officials with the state Employment Security Commission will seek to waive $28 million in overpayments made to about 38,000 unemployed people.

The ESC outlined a plan today that includes asking Gov. Bev Perdue to issue an order to forgive the overpayments with cooperation from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Perdue has spoken with DOL assistant secretary Jane Oates, who has agreed to work with the ESC to waive the overpayments, the ESC announced in a prepared statement.

The administrative errors that led to the overpayments have become a major black eye for the ESC, which recently mailed letters warning jobless people that they had to repay the money.

"I sincerely apologize for the confusion and inconvenience cause to our citizens over this issue," ESC chairwoman Lynn Holmes said in a prepared statement.