Battle to Continue Jobless Benefits Program Looms
More than a million Americans who have been unemployed for six months or longer will be cut off from federal jobless benefits between Thanksgiving and Christmas if Congress fails to act to continue this essential program.
The last time the expanded federal program was extended, it was only after an infuriating two-month legislative fight, during which Congress allowed eligibility for the program to lapse for seven weeks leaving more than 2.5 million unemployed workers with no benefits.
When eligibility for the program was finally extended, it was only until November 30. And now that deadline is approaching — while Congress is not in session, and not scheduled to reconvene until after the election.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the September employment report is going to make the jobs market look like something between a stagnant pool and a dismal swamp. The ratio of unemployed job-seekers to available jobs is still 5-to-1. As Rebecca Dixon, a research and policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project, describes it:
“If I were able to wave a magic wand and fill every job opening with an unemployed worker, four out of five of them would still be out of work.”
More than 5 million jobless Americans currently receive federal emergency or extended benefits. They would all begin to be cut off from those benefits after November 30 unless the program eligibility is continued.
And they would be joined by most of the 2.5 million Americans who have have just become unemployed since June 1st and have only begun receiving state benefits. That’s because, unless eligibility is continued for the expanded federal benefits program beyond November 30, those newly laid off after June 1st in most states would have no further benefits beyond 26 weeks.
Recently we reported that 3.3 million Americans were kept from falling into desperate poverty by the existing state and federal unemployment insurance benefit programs in 2009 alone.
That these programs need to be continued well into 2011 is so obvious it defies description. Yet, we can expect as much if not more obstruction, delay and attempts to cut or eliminate the program altogether as we’ve seen previously.
And those who will oppose continuing to offer essential, if modest, assistance to the job-seeking victims of this wicked recession will — no doubt — be the same ones who will insist we extend tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent.
After the election, continuing the existing federal unemployment insurance benefits program must be the first and immediate Congressional priority. This should be quite a fight.
Tags: jobless benefit extension, Jobs, unemployment
There is also the issue of the 99ers, who have already started running out of benefits. Sen. Stabenow has a bill in the Senate to extend those benefits.
Rep. Shelley Berkley has an unemployment extension bill introduced in the House (6091 I think), but you have to read the fine print. It only applies to states with an unemployment rate of 10% or higher. That excludes numerous states and individuals who need the extensions. So Re. Berkley’s bill is not a solution unless it is amended.
The problem in the Senate is that the finance committee consists of 12 Democrats and 9 Republicans, so the Democrats need 1 Republican vote to get the extensions out of the finance committee. People who live in states with a Republican Senator on the finance committee have to call that Senator. The only problem is that they come from agricultural states. So the Democrats will have to play hardball with something they want for agriculture unless they vote for the extensions.
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