Senior Senate Dems Urge Quick Extension Of Jobless Benefits
By Corey Boles, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Top Senate Democrats said Tuesday they hope Congress
will act quickly to extend unemployment insurance benefits nationally in the
face of persistently high jobless figures.
Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said they hoped the
Senate would act quickly to extend federal government support for people across
the country unable to find a job, and not just those who live in states with the
highest unemployment rates as some have suggested.
Durbin and Schumer are the second and third most senior Senate Democrats after
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Durbin said he favored an extension of federal government subsidies to people
whose health insurance disappeared when they lost their jobs to help them
continue to afford medical coverage.
"We need to be honest about this, we had hoped the economy would turn around,
it has not come as far as we want it to," Durbin said.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., a member of the Senate Finance Committee that
would have jurisdiction over any extension of unemployment insurance coverage,
said he too supports a national extension.
The finance panel held a hearing Tuesday in which economists and labor market
experts advised lawmakers how to tackle the continuing weak U.S. jobs market.
One of these, Beth Shulman, chairman of the National Employment Law Project,
said Congress should act immediately to extend benefits for 10 to 20 weeks.
The rate of job losses slowed nationally to 216,000 in August from a peak of
more than triple that rate earlier in the year, but the national unemployment
rate rose to 9.7%. Overall, 6.9 million people have lost their jobs since the
recession began in December 2007.
Even though most economists agree the U.S. is showing signs it is emerging
from one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression in the 1930s, the
labor market has shown little sign of improvement.
House and Senate lawmakers have said they would likely pursue an extension of
federal support for the unemployed this fall, although details have yet to
emerge over what type of extension is being considered, or how quickly they
might act.
Congress has acted three times since the recession began to extend benefits.
Jobless people in the states that have been hardest hit now receive 33 weeks of
benefits.
-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; corey.boles@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-15-091422ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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