House Dems Pursue Extended Unemployment Benefits

By Rachel Whitt

Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and other House Democrats called for an emergency extension to the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program in a Wednesday press conference.

“As we stand here today, millions of workers are experiencing a true state of emergency,” Lee said. “These individuals are the backbone of our nation, and are key to our economic recovery.”

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program is a federal service created in 2008 to provide benefits to unemployed citizens during the recession. These benefits are set to expire in June of 2012, but should the new package survive, benefits would then be extended until September 2012, giving unemployed Americans an additional fourteen weeks of federally funded benefits. 

“This legislation would make benefits available to all unemployed persons regardless of the employment conditions in their state,” Scott said.

Although the unemployment rate has made leaping improvements in recent months, dropping to 9 percent, Democrat lawmakers face a tough road towards getting the expansion to pass. 

Lee’s office estimates the expansion will cost nearly $16 billion, which she suggests could be funded by cutting the defense budget to 2008 levels. However, Republicans in the House have already spoken against cutting any spending from the defense budget and with Congress looking to trim the budget, it is unlikely the expansion act will rally enough bipartisan support to win a majority vote.

Despite adverse conditions facing the extension, a group from the American 99ers’ Union traveled to Washington to support the proposal. 

“Unemployment is a situation you never expect to find yourself in,” 40-year-old Monica Ross-Williams told TRNS. “Even with a college degree, I need this funding because I can’t find a job.”

The American 99ers’ Union is a coalition of unemployed workers who banned together to endorse legislation which extends unemployment insurance for those without jobs.