Main Street

Urgent Action: Tell the Senate to Extend Unemployment Insurance

Can you believe the Senate still hasn’t extended unemployment insurance? Benefits start to run out for a million job-seekers in a week, and some states have begun the process of taking those people off the rolls and telling them they will no longer have the check they depend on to get by while finding a new job. This did not sneak up on us. We here had plenty of time to see it coming, and the Senate should have had plenty of time to act.

After losing a week of work to the massive snowstorms that paralyzed Washington, DC, the Senate went on a scheduled recess for a week. Now they’re turning their attention to unemployment again—but millions of people waiting to hear if they’ll be able to pay for food and housing next month have been able to think of little else during these weeks.

And now comes the news that the Senate is expected to only pass a 15-day extension.

While a 15-day extension will allow people to continue receiving aid, states hundreds of thousands of people will still receive notices from state unemployment offices saying that they will stop receiving aid.

Many people will be confused and not realize that they are indeed eligible for additional unemployment benefits. This will cause people to miss required steps for applying for benefits, such as documenting applying for jobs. Others will become confused and simply not file for benefits anymore. Thousands of people will effectively be disenfranchised due to this weak 15-day extension, which does nothing substantial to meet the jobs crisis this country faces.

Furthermore, the Senate’s failure to pass a long-term unemployment extension, along the lines of the six-month extension the House passed earlier this year, would mean states already broke will waste lots of money sending out confusing notices, first to say that unemployment benefits were canceled, then to say their benefits are restored, then to say they are about to be canceled again.

Meanwhile, governors are at the White House this week begging for more money from the federal government. Since states by law are not allowed to go into debt, without federal aid they will have to cut essential services in order to balance their budgets. States face a $357 billion budget shortfall and local governments are facing an additional $80 billion in budget deficits.

Can you imagine? With huge long-term unemployment, this could cause chaos.

So it’s time, once again, to call your senators. How many times do they expect us to go through this cycle? They pass an extension that’s not nearly long enough. Almost as soon as it takes effect, we have to start pressuring them again. They drag it out to the bitter end. Jobless workers face more uncertainty, and possibly go through a month without benefits, pulling them even deeper into debt.

Let your senators know these patchwork, piecemeal responses to the needs of tens of millions of struggling families are not enough. We need unemployment insurance to be extended through 2010, so that we can turn our attention to real economic recovery, for the country, for communities, and for families.

Talking Points

• 26 million Americans are unemployed or don’t have the full-time work they need to support their families.
• Up to 800,000 jobs will be lost nationwide if benefits are not extended through the end of 2010.
• Every $1 of unemployment insurance benefits that is spent results in $1.69 in economic stimulus in the community.

Call now.

Tags: unemployment, unemployment benefits extension