Seventy-three percent of voters want Congress to keep the extended unemployment benefits put in place to fight the recession, according to a new poll commissioned by the National Employment Law Project, and they don't care about the deficit.
With unemployment expected to hover above nine percent for the foreseeable future, nearly three out of four voters say "it is too early to start cutting back benefits for workers who lost their jobs."
"There is deep public support for continuing the federal unemployment programs at a time when unemployment is at 9.6 percent and millions are still out of work," said NELP director Christine Owens in a statement. "Support for continuing these programs trumps concerns about the deficit -- which should be no surprise when nearly half of all unemployed workers have been looking for work for more than six months but have not been able to find jobs."
Congress has just two weeks from Monday to reauthorize extended unemployment benefits before they expire at the end of the month. It will be the third time the benefits have needed reauthorization in the past year. Each of the three previous reauthorizations met stiff resistance from congressional deficit hawks, and the most recent reauthorization was delayed for nearly two months as 2.5 million people had their benefits interrupted.
According to the poll, the public doesn't share the deficit concerns voiced by Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress. Only 24 percent of voters agreed that, "With the federal deficit over one trillion dollars, it is time for the government to start cutting back on unemployment benefits for the unemployed." Sixty-seven percent said the programs should continue until there is a significant drop in the jobless rate.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/15/voters-dont-want-congress_n_783687.html
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