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Rep. Levin: Republicans Still Refuse To Assist Those Unemployed The Longest Washington, D.C. - Today House Republicans are reversing course and have scheduled a vote on legislation to continue the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Program (TEUC), which provides 13 weeks of federal unemployment benefits to people who have been out of work for six months and run out of state benefits. Tomorrow is the last day Congress is scheduled to be in session before the program expires. The Senate is expected to act on a similar extension today or tomorrow.
"It’s good news that some Republicans now acknowledge that it’s not compassionate to simply tell workers trying desperately to find work that the answer is "economic growth" or "get a job."" said Congressman Sander Levin. "It is very bad news that Republicans have again refused to help those who’ve been out of work the longest and are struggling the most."
"Providing unemployment insurance benefits not only assists unemployed workers and their families, it also stimulates economic growth because unemployed workers are likely to spend every penny of their benefits just to get by," said Rep. Levin. "For every dollar the federal government invests in unemployment benefits, the return is $1.73 in economic growth.
As recently as last Friday, House Republican leaders had argued that an extension was unnecessary. Republican House Minority Leader Tom DeLay told Members on Friday that "it is a stretch to say that we are at a crisis point."
Just over a month ago, Ways & Means Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Wally Herger suggested that the availability of unemployment benefits was the reason so many people were out of work. In announcing a hearing, Herger said, "Numerous studies suggest unemployment benefits extend unemployment and delay returns to work, which is troubling."
By acting this week, Republican leaders prevent a repeat of what happened in November, when President Bush remained silent Congress adjourned without acting to extend federal unemployment benefits. 800,000 workers received letters telling them their benefits would end 3 days after Christmas. Congress retroactively restored the benefits in January.
The House-passed legislation will provide no help for those who have been out of work for nine months or longer. Nearly 1.4 million people who have exhausted their state and federal benefits but have not yet found work are left out of the House Republican bill. Another 685,000 people are expected to exhaust their federal benefits over the summer, bringing the number of people without work or benefits to 2 million or higher.
More than twice as many people have run out of unemployment benefits in this recession as did in the last recession, in large measure because the Congress has provided fewer weeks of extended benefits, despite similar rates of long-term unemployment and the longest sustained job loss in the economy since the Great Depression.
According to a recent survey of unemployed workers conducted for the National Employment Law Project, the average unemployed worker has applied for 29 different jobs. Long-term unemployed workers have applied for an average of 39 jobs without finding work. According to data collected by the Department of Labor, there are 3.4 unemployed workers for every job opening.
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