A temporary victory for families?
On Thursday, after weeks of delay and grandstanding, Congress finally voted to briefly extend unemployment insurance for the millions of workers who are still trying to find jobs in an economy where there are more than 5 jobless Americans for every available job. [1]
A victory? Well, yes, it's a welcome respite for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have already had their unemployment insurance benefits cut off because of delays in Congress. However, the extension is only good until June 2nd, so next month we'll sadly be back fighting the same fight.
Tell Congress to stop monkeying around with monthly unemployment insurance extension battles and extend unemployment insurance to the end of 2010--giving them time to focus instead on longer-term solutions like creating good jobs for more than 15 million Americans who are unemployed.
http://action.momsrising.org/go/UI_2010/85?akid=2025.86216.y8iMBq&t=4
Every time Congress threatens to cut off unemployment insurance, millions of moms and dads wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night wondering, "How will I feed my kids? Will we lose our home?"
And while there are strong signs that the economy is in recovery, no one expects that the current high rates of unemployment are going to disappear any time soon. In fact, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, speaking to the join economic committee of Congress this week, warned that unemployment could stay "stubbornly" high. [2]
It's time to extend jobless benefits till the end of this year and start really focusing on how to create new jobs. Keeping families in their homes and able to look for work is critical for our nation's economic recovery.
Tell Congress that we need them focusing on creating jobs, not engaging in monthly food fights about unemployment insurance extensions. They must now pass an extension of unemployment insurance benefits until the end of 2010.
http://action.momsrising.org/go/UI_2010/85?akid=2025.86216.y8iMBq&t=6
[2] Times Online, US unemployment likely to stay high during recovery, Ben Bernanke warns
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of MomsRising.org.
MomsRising.org strongly encourages our readers to post comments in response to blog posts. We value diversity of opinions and perspectives. Our goals for this space are to be educational, thought-provoking, and respectful. So we actively moderate comments and we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that undermine these goals. Thanks!