January 07, 2003
In the 107th Congress, Lee, along with fellow Democrats, pushed to extend the TEUCA to unemployed workers across the country, but Republicans wanted to limit extending benefits to only those workers in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington.
President Bush announced today that his economic stimulus package, which benefits primarily those people in the highest tax brackets, will include an extension of unemployment benefits. But the President’s plan provided no real specifics about how he would deal with the unemployed, including 90,000 workers nationwide who will lose their regular unemployment benefits each week and 13,293 Oakland-area workers who will exhaust their regular benefits over the next three months.
"We are in the worst economy that we have seen for a decade, and we need to help those people who have fallen victim to this economy, not increase the bank accounts of the wealthy," said Lee.
Two weeks ago, Lee co-sponsored the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Action (EUCA), which would extend the TEUCA. The EUCA, to be introduced this week in Congress, 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 TEUCA benefits.
"The residents of the 9th Congressional District need help to survive this horrible economic downturn," said Lee. "We don’t need to fatten the wallets of corporations and the wealthiest Americans."
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee Releases Numbers of Oakland Metro Residents Affected by Expiration of Extended Unemployment Benefits; Bush’s Stimulus Plan Won’t Address Oakland’s Needs
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-California) reported today that almost 7500 workers in the Oakland metropolitan area lost their federal extended unemployment benefits last week because of the expiration of the 2002 Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act (TEUCA) on December 28th.In the 107th Congress, Lee, along with fellow Democrats, pushed to extend the TEUCA to unemployed workers across the country, but Republicans wanted to limit extending benefits to only those workers in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington.
President Bush announced today that his economic stimulus package, which benefits primarily those people in the highest tax brackets, will include an extension of unemployment benefits. But the President’s plan provided no real specifics about how he would deal with the unemployed, including 90,000 workers nationwide who will lose their regular unemployment benefits each week and 13,293 Oakland-area workers who will exhaust their regular benefits over the next three months.
"We are in the worst economy that we have seen for a decade, and we need to help those people who have fallen victim to this economy, not increase the bank accounts of the wealthy," said Lee.
Two weeks ago, Lee co-sponsored the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Action (EUCA), which would extend the TEUCA. The EUCA, to be introduced this week in Congress, 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 TEUCA benefits.
"The residents of the 9th Congressional District need help to survive this horrible economic downturn," said Lee. "We don’t need to fatten the wallets of corporations and the wealthiest Americans."
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