Here is my letter to my Representative, Gerry Connolly D (11th) VA
Over 2 million Americans will lose their unemployment insurance soon unless Congress acts now. Make sure an extension of the Emergency Unemployment Insurance program is in any budget deal. No extension, no budget deal, it is as simple as that and I expect you to stand against those in the House who would abandon the long term unemployed. I am a member of the Elizabeth Warren faction of the Democratic Party and I expect you to support and vote for a Bold Progressive agenda.
George Zornick at The Nation has a dramatic update on the ongoing budget negotiations unfolding on Capitol Hill:
Thursday morning, House Democrats held a deeply emotional hearing featuring several long-term unemployed Americans who pleaded with Congress to extend the expiring federal Emergency Unemployment Insurance program, which provides benefits to jobless Americans after their state benefits run out.Please join with Daily Kos and The Nation by sending an email to your member of the House, telling him or her to make sure an extension of the Emergency Unemployment Insurance program is included any budget deal. We can provide the crucial grassroots support Nancy Pelosi needs to make sure over two million Americans keep their unemployment benefits.
The program has been extended or modified eleven times since it was created in 2008 as the economy cratered, but is set to expire at the end of 2013—meaning 2.15 million long-term unemployed would lose benefits entirely.
The looming House-Senate budget negotiations have been viewed as the best vehicle to extend the EUC program—and Thursday’s hearing ended with some dramatic news from House minority leader Nancy Pelosi. She made it clear that Democrats couldn’t support any agreement that didn’t have an EUC extension, either in the actual budget or as a separate piece of legislation.
This is a fight we can actually win, as Zornick explains:
Meanwhile, a senior Democratic Senate aide close to the budget negotiations confirmed to The Nation that a EUC extension is still very much in the mix. Senator Murray, who is leading the negotiations for Democrats, “continues to push for this and it remains an open item as the negotiations continue.”Please click here to send an email to your member of the House of Representatives, telling him or her to make sure an extension of the Emergency Unemployment Insurance programs is included in the upcoming budget deal. There are over two million Americans who will thank you if you do.
Details of a possible agreement have been leaking out in recent days, though there is no mention of the EUC program either way. The agreement is sure to be fragile, however, given the spending levels and federal pension changes rumored to be included—meaning that every last vote will be crucial in the House. That’s what makes Pelosi’s pledge so notable.
Additionally on Thursday morning, House Speaker John Boehner told reporters he would be “willing to take a look” at a long-term unemployment insurance extension.
Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers, Daily Kos
Thu Dec 05, 2013 at 10:47 AM PST
New report extols benefits of unemployment compensation. Pelosi: No budget deal without UI
Whoa--strong pledge from Pelosi just now: "We cannot sign a budget agreement that does not include unemployment insurance."— @gzornick
As Sarah Ayres points out:
This is because unemployment benefits are not just good for workers; they are also good for the economy. By putting money into the pockets of people who will spend it, unemployment benefits boost demand, spur economic growth, and create jobs. In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found that unemployment benefits are one of the most effective fiscal policies to increase economic growth and employment. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, has found that every $1 spent on unemployment insurance grows the economy by $1.55. All these dollars circulating through the economy create jobs. According to an Economic Policy Institute analysis, extending emergency unemployment benefits would create 310,000 additional jobs in 2014.Nine out of the 11 times the EUC has been renewed since it was first enacted in June 2008, Republican lawmakers have resisted. Their essential argument: unemployment compensation makes people lazy. In other words, with just one job opening available for every three job seekers, Republicans say Get a Job! Meanwhile, the Council of Economic Advisers and Department of Labor have published a new report, The Economic Benefits of Extending Unemployment Benefits. Among its findings:
• Including workers’ families, nearly 69 million people have been supported by extended UI benefits, including almost 17 million children • In 2012 alone, UI benefits lifted an estimated 2.5 million people out of poverty [...]The official unemployment rate of 7.3 percent is higher now than it has been at any time in past recessions when extended unemployment compensation has been removed.
• Failing to extend UI benefits would put a dent in job-seekers’ incomes, reducing demand and costing 240,000 jobs in 2014.
• Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and JP Morgan suggest that without an
extension of EUC GDP will be .2 to .4 percentage points lower.
• In 2011, CBO found that aid to the unemployed is among the policies with “the largest
effects on output and employment per dollar of budgetary cost”
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