Millions set to lose unemployment benefits…ho damn ho
State Unemployment Commissioners Implore Congress To Reauthorize Benefits Extensions
Labor commissioners and unemployment-agency officials from several states joined a coalition of labor and advocacy groups Monday to implore Congress to reauthorize unemployment benefits extensions set to expire at the end of the year. If Congress doesn’t act before its Christmas recess – and it might not – one million jobless workers will run out of benefits in January.
The National Employment Law Project and the Center for American Progress Action Fund released a report with a state-by-state breakdown of benefits exhaustions from January to March. In all, 3.2 million people who would otherwise be eligible for extensions will lose their benefits over a three-month period unless Congress acts. The report stressed that economists consider unemployment benefits the most stimulative part of the stimulus bill.
Officials said that an interruption in benefits would impose massive administrative costs on state agencies, which would need to start sending letters to some benefit recipients as early as Dec. 19 to notify them that the checks would soon stop.
“The actual deadline for many states is Dec. 19, so not only will you create confusion in the system but there’s the possibility of some individuals losing benefits right around the holiday season,” said Vito. “So the urgency by which Congress must act can’t be overstated.”</em>