Tell These Four Missouri Legislators: Stop Blocking Unemployment Benefits!

[Dulcinea]

On April 2nd, Missouri could become the only state in the country to abruptly cut-off federally-paid unemployment insurance benefits to struggling out-of-work job-seekers.
That’s because four Missouri State Senators are holding up a bill that would continue federally-funded Extended Benefits (EB) for thousands of Missouri’s hardest-hit unemployed workers and their families. As a result, nearly ten thousand Missourians will have those benefits cut-off prematurely next week. Another 56,000 face having those benefits cut-off shortly.

The bill, which is a simple technical adjustment to state law to allow the Extended Benefits to continue through 2011, has already passed the state House. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon supports it and wants the state Senate to pass it so that he can sign it. A clear majority in both parties and the Senate’s leaders support it and want to bring it to a vote.

But Senators Jim Lembke, Brian Nieves, Will Kraus and Rob Schaaf have kept the Senate from voting on it for weeks – endangering this crucial aid for thousands upon thousands of Missouri’s struggling job-seekers.

And why are they blocking the Extended Benefits bill? They say they want to make a point against federal spending. So they have picked these federally-funded unemployment benefits to lodge their protest – for what amounts to 0.002 percent (that’s two one-thousandths of a percent) of the federal budget.

http://www.nelp.org/page/speakout/Stop_Blocking_MO_EB

[Tippy]

1. Done

[AtomicKitten]

2. Consider it a trend. Michigan is limiting unemployment benefits to 20 weeks maximum.