December 23, 2002

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Co-Sponsors Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act: Bush Turnaround Called Too Little, Too Late

Washington, D.C. – With approximately 800,000 Americans scheduled to have their federal extended unemployment benefits cut off just three days after Christmas, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-California) today signed onto legislation that would extend these unemployment benefits until the end of June.

"We have a responsibility to provide a safety net for those workers who are victimes of the worst economy since the early 1990s," said Lee. "The Republicans opposed the extension of these benefits during the lame-duck session, but we’re going to try again to get food and a little survival money to those people who have been unable to find jobs."

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Action (EUCA) co-sponsored by Lee would extend the current Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC). It would guarantee every recently unemployed worker at least 26 weeks of extended benefits, and it would provide an additional 13 weeks of extended benefits for those who have already exhausted TEUC benefits.

The EUCA goes much further than President Bush’s recent call for a short-term extension of unemployment benefits. Bush’s plan would only help those Americans whose relief runs out on December 28th. His proposal would do nothing to help the 90,000 workers losing their regular benefits each week.

Nor will the President's proposal do anything for the more than 1 million people who have already exhausted their 13 weeks of temporary unemployment benefits and have not yet found work.

Nationally, 1.73 million individuals have been unemployed 27 weeks or more, the highest number of long-term unemployed since September 1993. Overall, the national employment rate stands at 6 percent, the highest rate since the middle of President Clinton’s first term.

"I know that in many cases, families have spent down their savings, hit their credit limits and are now, in many cases, facing eviction and loss of their homes or cars," Lee said. "America’s working families need real help, not a public-relations offensive. President Bush’s inadequate proposal yet again represents how out-of-touch the Republican Party is with the working men and women of this country."