http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/04/11/bill-would-extend-unemployment-insurance-for-long-term-jobless/by Mike Hall, Apr 11, 2008
Earlier this year, the AFL-CIO pushed hard for Congress to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits beyond the normal 26 weeks as part of a stimulus package to address growing joblessness and a nose-diving economy.
President Bush indicated that extending UI benefits was veto bait for the bill and said unemployment wasn’t high enough to justify an extension. It was dropped from the bill.
Yesterday, Maurice Emsellem, policy co-director for the National Employment Law Project (NELP), told the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support that the Bush administration’s “claim that the unemployment rate is not high enough to justify an extension of jobless benefits” fails to recognize that the rate has become a lagging indicator of economic recovery. Thus, waiting to extend benefits until after the unemployment rate increases further is akin to closing the door after the recession horse has already left the barn.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), the subcommittee chairman, and Rep. Phillip English (R-Pa.) introduced a bill (H.R. 5749) this week that would provide up to 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits in every state and 13 additional weeks in states with high unemployment. Says McDermott:
Congress should tell these people that help is on the way…We should extend unemployment benefits now. It’s the right thing to do for workers and their families, and it’s the right thing to do for our economy. We have almost twice as many long-term unemployed workers compared to the beginning of the last recession, and nearly all of the economic indicators are telling us the employment picture will get even worse in the coming months.
FULL story at link.