December 08, 2003
“Since Bush took office, we’ve lost nearly 3 million private sector jobs, and yet Republicans continue to stand up for special interests and give tax cuts to the wealthy,” said Lee. “Extending unemployment benefits will not only help unemployed Americans, but it is also an effective economic stimulus: for every $1.00 spent on unemployment benefits, $1.73 is returned in economic growth.”
Lee has co-sponsored a bill offered by Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Sandy Levin (D-MI) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) to extend the federal benefits program for an additional six months, increase the amount of benefits to 26 weeks, include coverage for 1.4 million workers who have already exhausted their extended benefits, and expand unemployment insurance coverage for low-wage and part-time workers. The cost of the unemployment insurance extension is covered by the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which was developed for just the kind of economic situation we are facing today.
Since the beginning of the Bush Administration, long-term unemployment has tripled to the highest level in almost 10 years. The percentage of Americans exhausting their regular unemployment benefits without finding a job has reached a record level. Many workers will run out of benefits long before they find a job. In fact, two million Americans have been out of work for more than six months. And yet, just after Christmas, the current extended unemployment benefits program is scheduled to expire - denying benefits to nearly 90,000 workers every week thereafter.
Last year, the Republicans left town before extending unemployment benefits, leaving hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans to worry over the holidays that they would have no way to put food on their tables, pay their bills, or pay for their health care. In October, House Democrats launched a discharge petition, which was signed by Lee, to force Republicans to take up the Democratic plan to extend benefits before adjourning.
“Right now, there are 3.1 people for every available job. There simply aren’t enough jobs for every person who wants one,” said Rep. Lee. “This Administration needs to come up with economic policies that will create jobs, and for the short-term, they must provide unemployment support to workers by immediately extending federal unemployment benefits.”
###
Congresswoman Barbara Lee Calls on Congress to Extend Federal Unemployment Benefits
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) today called on Republicans in the House of Representatives to extend unemployment benefits before the House adjourns for the year. Under current law, unemployment benefits will expire at the end of the month, when Congress is not in session, so both the House and the Senate must act now to extend benefits to 4.6 million unemployed workers.“Since Bush took office, we’ve lost nearly 3 million private sector jobs, and yet Republicans continue to stand up for special interests and give tax cuts to the wealthy,” said Lee. “Extending unemployment benefits will not only help unemployed Americans, but it is also an effective economic stimulus: for every $1.00 spent on unemployment benefits, $1.73 is returned in economic growth.”
Lee has co-sponsored a bill offered by Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Sandy Levin (D-MI) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) to extend the federal benefits program for an additional six months, increase the amount of benefits to 26 weeks, include coverage for 1.4 million workers who have already exhausted their extended benefits, and expand unemployment insurance coverage for low-wage and part-time workers. The cost of the unemployment insurance extension is covered by the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which was developed for just the kind of economic situation we are facing today.
Since the beginning of the Bush Administration, long-term unemployment has tripled to the highest level in almost 10 years. The percentage of Americans exhausting their regular unemployment benefits without finding a job has reached a record level. Many workers will run out of benefits long before they find a job. In fact, two million Americans have been out of work for more than six months. And yet, just after Christmas, the current extended unemployment benefits program is scheduled to expire - denying benefits to nearly 90,000 workers every week thereafter.
Last year, the Republicans left town before extending unemployment benefits, leaving hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans to worry over the holidays that they would have no way to put food on their tables, pay their bills, or pay for their health care. In October, House Democrats launched a discharge petition, which was signed by Lee, to force Republicans to take up the Democratic plan to extend benefits before adjourning.
“Right now, there are 3.1 people for every available job. There simply aren’t enough jobs for every person who wants one,” said Rep. Lee. “This Administration needs to come up with economic policies that will create jobs, and for the short-term, they must provide unemployment support to workers by immediately extending federal unemployment benefits.”
###