I don't know if this article has been posted but I am going to repost it if it has.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Senator promises quick action on extending unemployment benefits
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington -- The chairman of a key Senate committee said today Congress will act quickly on legislation extending unemployment benefits to the nation's jobless.
"It's a major problem, the number of people who are unemployed," said Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "We are going to act in the best way we possibly can."
Baucus made his comments at the end of a hearing by his committee to look at options to deal with 1.4 million unemployed workers -- including 100,000 Michiganians -- who face receiving their last unemployment check at the end of the year.
A Senate bill would extend unemployment benefits through December 2010, plus give unemployed workers in states with jobless rates of at least 8.5 percent an additional 13 weeks.
That would mean in Michigan, with the nation's highest jobless rate of 15 percent, unemployed workers could get up to 92 weeks of benefits -- nearly 2 years.
The issue is important to laid-off workers like Jalal Al Hussien of St. Joseph, who builds auto parts. He got his last check in June. His wife, Dawn, works part-time as an accountant, but her income isn't enough to cover household bills.
"I've tried so hard to get a job. I am afraid I am going to lose my house," Al Hussien said. "This 13 weeks would help me so much."
Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, said in an interview that House leaders will meet Wednesday to decide the next steps.
"There's going to be discussion with the leadership," said Levin, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee who is pushing for the 13 additional weeks. "We hope very much there will be action by the end of the month."
Levin expects the House will first deal with the additional 13 weeks for hard hit states, then separately deal with extending the programs through 2010.
"The 13 weeks has to happen now," Levin said. "We're actively working on it, and we hope to set a schedule this week" on whether to have a markup in committee or send the bill to the House floor for a vote.
Michigan offers up to $362 per week in unemployment benefits to previously full-time workers, plus the additional $25 per week through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for a total of $387 per week. About 18,000 jobless workers in the state received their last check at the end of August.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm and 21 other governors sent a letter today to Congressional leaders asking them to approve the extension.
"Unemployment benefits help protect the unemployed during these difficult economic times while injecting money directly into the Michigan economy," Granholm said. "Employment lags behind economic recovery, and we cannot forget that help for unemployed workers and their families remains a critical need."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called an extension "essential," while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama have also signaled support.
But, just as there was debate over the wisdom of an extension among the experts at the hearing, senators on the committee also differed on what the effect of paying out benefits for such a long time can be on an economy trying to recover.
"People in Michigan want to work," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing. "This is not about people not wanting to work. This is about the fact that we have a transition going on in the economy." About 450,000 people in Michigan are on unemployment.
But Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., asked, "When will it end?"
Beth Shulman, who chairs the board of the National Employment Law Project, called unemployment benefits a "vital lifeline," adding, "Now is not the time to pull the plug."
Shulman and other advocates say only one job is available for every five to six unemployed people.
She argued the "survival benefits" keep people in their homes, and keep small businesses alive with purchases by people too strapped to save.
Advocates note that the recession is worse than the downturn in 1981-82, because more jobs have been lost and it's taken more time for an average worker to find a new job.
But critics, such as Bunning and Karen Campbell, a macroeconomic policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said the government should instead look at job-creating policies.
Bunning, a former pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, argued the problem is the long-term unemployed don't have the right skills for today's jobs.
"The ones that have gone out of work are not the right skill set to get the new jobs that are available," Bunning said
Campbell pointed to research showing that unemployed workers spend less time looking for jobs until just before their benefits run out, meaning an extension could delay tough decisions, such as moving or upgrading job skills. People have to have money to move. Geesh. what part of this don't these damn people understand. If we had thousands to move with, we would have thousands to pay our bills where we are living at. It takes a lot of money to move somewhere else. With this economy where there are no jobs and everybody dragging their feet credit scores are declining and when you move you have to have credit checks for electricity, housing, etc. Bad credit means you are out of luck.
dprice@detnews.com (202) 662-8736
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
