Anna McClure, Fellow

For weeks now, we have been asking Congress to pass a bill to fully extend federal unemployment insurance (UI) benefits before they expire at the end of the year. Instead, last Friday, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) introduced a bill (H.R. 3630) that would drastically reduce the number of weeks of federal UI available and would hit hardest in states with the highest unemployment (Michigan, ironically, being one of them). The bill also includes several other troubling proposals, including some changes to the overall structure of the UI program – but more on those in other posts.

The unemployment rate is currently at 8.6 percent, long-term unemployment is at record levels, and the jobs outlook is very grim (remember when some Senators voted to block several jobs bills rather than raise taxes on millionaires by even one cent?). It is shocking, then, that Rep. Camp not only proposes to cut critical federal UI benefits at all, but proposes to cut them by more than half:

As we mentioned earlier this week, Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) hosted a press conference yesterday highlighting the stories of the workers who depend on federal unemployment insurance benefits (UI) and calling for passage of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act. Even though it seems obvious to me that extending UI is, as Rep. Levin put it, “not a subject for horse-trading,” some Members of Congress seem willing to play a game of chicken with these critical benefits. One wonders if these Members have ever listened to the stories of the women and men who depend on UI, like I was honored to yesterday:

Jill, from Pennsylvania, was a teacher for 16 years until June, when, like so many other women in public sector jobs, she was laid off because of state budget cuts. Jill has three young children at home and a husband who is also an educator. Jill was the first in her family to go to college, and she went on to receive a master’s degree, but even with her education and years of experience, she has struggled to find a job that provides enough wages or benefits to support her family. Jill has even gone back to school to get an administrative certificate in the hopes that she can find a job that pays a sufficient salary. During this time of uncertainty, UI has helped keep her family afloat, but now she fears what will happen to them if her federal UI benefits are cut off next year.