House to vote on extending unemployment benefits

[Joanne98]

Source: CNN


Legislation calls for jobless Americans in high-unemployment states to get an additional 13 weeks of checks.
By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: September 18, 2009: 8:22 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Jobless Americans in high-unemployment states would see their benefits extended for another 13 weeks under legislation to be considered by Congress next Wednesday.

The House measure would lengthen benefits for the more than 300,000 people who live in states with unemployment rates greater than 8.5% and who are set to run out of compensation by the end of this month, a Democratic aide said. The legislation would also help another 1 million people who are scheduled to lose benefits by the end of the year.

Some 26 states and the District of Columbia fall into this category. Workers in other states could qualify if their state is expected to hit an 8.5% unemployment rate soon or meets other criteria. The national unemployment rate hit 9.7% in August, the highest in 26 years.

Pressure has been building on Capitol Hill to extend unemployment benefits as the jobless rate continues to rise and openings remain scarce. Although Congress has twice voted to extend benefits over the past year, an estimated 400,000 people are expected to lose their checks by the end of this month and 1.4 million will by the end of the year, according to the National Employment Law Project.

"Now is not the moment to pull the plug on America's jobless workers or to deal a body blow to the nation's nascent economic recovery," said Beth Shulman, the group's chair, in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.

The cost of the additional benefits would be offset by extending for one year an employer-paid federal unemployment tax that has been in place for the past three decades, and by requiring that reporting on newly hired employees include a start date, which would reduce unemployment insurance overpayments.

The measure is expected to pass in the Democrat-controlled House, though it could face a challenge in the Senate. Senate Republicans could not be reached for comment Thursday, but Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., last month told Fox News that he would vote in favor of extending benefits.

"Yes," DeMint said. "Yeah, we'll definitely support it."




Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/17/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/index.htm?postversion=2009091718

[Hugin]

1. "Senate Republicans could not be reached for comment "

Must've all been out tea-baggin'... or sumpthin'.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Greetings from the land of UC

I would rather have a new job, but if not, it is good to know that this is in the works.

[doc03]

3. I want to see the Republicans oppose this

as socialist. Come on please, please stop this socialism.

[SIMPLYB1980]

4. +1

I wonder if they can find a way to oppose it or support it without causing a shit fest.

[undeterred]

5. So if you're not in a high-unemployment state,

and you're unemployed, you can eat dirt when the money runs out?

[gateley]

7. That's what happened to me when I lived in NC. nt

[inna]

6. i have an important question - what happens to those people whose uneployment benefits expire while

they are still unable to find a job?? seriously, how common is this and what happens to those people?

what if they don't have relatives or friends who can help them out? are these people supposed to shoot themselves or become homeless??


it's a pretty brutal system, some things just don't measure up here.

[gateley]

8. That's what happened to me in NC. There was no other help. nt

[undeterred]

9. Some people become homeless and others shoot themselves.

The "safety net" is already broken, and half a million new people are being dumped into it every week. Meanwhile there are people pronouncing the recession "over".

[doc03]

10. Some that can will have to take the

undesirable jobs working for minimum wage and no benefits. We have a national distribution center for a large retailer that is advertising for workers on TV and have a billboard advertising for workers. They have hired and fired so many people over the years they can't find enough people even with this economy, it never occurs to them that maybe they should pay people more and treat them better. I for instance take home $600 a week with unemployment and supplemental unemployment from my employer, so I would have to take more than a 50% pay cut if I would take such a job.

[WriteDown]

14. Seems like you should be assigned a job after a period of time...

like in Germany.

[Iowa]

11. I worked with people who were chronically unemployed for many years...

...and you are absolutely right; it is a brutal system. The "safety net" simply is not there for a great many people. Seeing this from the inside (many years ago) was very sobering and caused me to dramatically change my attitude about personal finance. My wife and I decided to spend far less than we earned. As luck would have it, we never encountered unemployment. Since we never had to use the safety net we built, our assets continued to grow. But even today we carry on with the same frugal spending habits for many reasons: one never knows what tomorrow will bring; we want to minimize our footprint on the world; we've grown accustomed to a relatively frugal lifestyle and are perfectly happy with it; we just aren't comfortable living high when so many are going without; our adult children are living through a depression and may need our help... and many other reasons.

So a small piece of advice from an old man to my younger DU friends: if you are lucky enough to have a decent job - spend far less than you earn and save the rest. It may save you someday. Don't rely on a safety net being there; more than likely you will be sorely disappointed. You truly are on your own. I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg of this depression we are in - so save everything you possibly can if you are able.

[WriteDown]

13. In Germany, they will actually SEND you to work...

Like working on a farm for a few Euros an hour. We may need to look at that here.

[doc03]

16. With my unemployment

and union negotiated contract I get 80% of my wages for 1 year and 2 years of medical coverage. So you are saying I should have to go work on a farm and clean out stalls for less than minimum wage at age 61? Who is your idol Ronald Raygun? That's what he said back in 1980, that unemployment was just a paid vacation for labor. How about I get a job on a roofing crew, asphalt crew or maybe cut weeds in the hot sun on the Interstate. The type of jobs that are open are jobs that require a young body not a 61 year old body with medical problems. What about my younger co-workers that were used to making $60000 or more a year and still had have the bills from that life style to pay. Should they be forced to take a job on a farm for less than half of the unemployment and loose their home or even be forced into bankrupcy?

[WriteDown]

17. No, you have it alll wrong....

In Germany, once unemployment runs its course that's when you are assigned a job. A progressive nation like Germany is light years beyond anything raygun could have envisioned.

[Igel]

12. Will it require that some states rewrite some laws?

I mean, a number of states said 'no' to unemployment supplements under the stimulus bill because it required that they extend unemployment to part-time employees, additional classes of employees, and those who quit their jobs for some humanitarian reasons.

We can argue whether or not these are good changes (I'd expect we'd already be on the same side), but that's a different issue from saying that a bit of humanitarian stimulus that's allegedly to serve a stimulus function should also compel local changes to the unemployment law.

[doodadem]

15. My husband starts a new job next month.....

I just posted this on a different thread:

My husband is starting a new job next month, after being unemployed for nearly a year and a half. He just received his last unemployment check. He was a network engineer before being laid off. He's going to work with a friend of ours for a small co. that installs piping and pumps for potable water for municipalities. He says he's going to be a glorified plumber--hilarious, because that has been an ongoing refrain in the 25 years we've been married--"I am NOT a plumber", when confronted with household plumbing problems.

There's no benefits--no insurance--and he'll be traveling for 10 days at a time, home 4 days, then gone again. That sucks. That means all of the farmwork falls to me, along with running my regular business. And he's pretty much going to have to give up the two blues bands he plays in.

But what else can you do? We're down to not being able to pay the mortgage.

Today is his birthday.......he's 58 yrs. old. We should be at the point where we can start taking it easy a little bit. Had to cash in his 401K last year. I'm starting to see things pick up a little bit in my business, but its a long cycle to getting paid.

I'm sure there's thousands, maybe millions of people, out there in the same boat. We're way too old for this shit.