Rep. Lee's press release re:Emergency relief for the long term unemployed

Representatives Barbara Lee and Bobby Scott Meet with House
Republican Leadership About Emergency Relief for the Long-Term
Unemployed

April 14, 2011 Media Contact: Joel Payne, (202) 225-2661 Washington, DC
– Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Congressman Bobby Scott
(D-VA) continued the fight to pass HR 589, the Emergency Unemployment
Compensation Expansion Act. Reps. Lee and Scott met today with Speaker
John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), and
discussed the possibility of bringing HR 589 to the House floor for a
vote.

HR 589 extends emergency benefits to long-term unemployed
workers by providing 14 weeks of emergency unemployment benefits to
people who, while actively searching for employment, have exhausted all
their benefits yet are still unemployed. Introduced in early February,
HR 589 has not been considered by the Ways and Means Committee, the
Committee with sole jurisdiction over the bill.

The House Leadership has
also not exercised its power to bring the bill directly to the floor of
the House. Reps. Lee and Scott recently wrote a letter to the House
Republican leadership on the issue, and that letter led to today's
meeting.

"We had a productive meeting with the Speaker and the
Majority Leader to discuss this critical issue of providing aid for
long-term unemployed workers," said Representative Barbara Lee.

"With almost 5 unemployed workers for every available job, it would be
unacceptable to allow millions of displaced workers who have exhausted
their benefits to have no safety net to help make ends meet.

Speaker
Boehner encouraged us to work with the House Ways and Means Committee to
move this bill forward, and while we will certainly do so, we maintain
that these long-term unemployed workers deserve a floor vote now.

Frankly, where there is a will there is a way, and we hope that the
Republican leadership will show some serious will to move this vital
effort forward."
"In the past, Congress has designated
unemployment insurance as emergency spending and has extended the
program when the national unemployment rate is higher than 7.2%," said Representative Bobby Scott.

"Now we are at 8.8% nationally and for every new job opening there are
almost 5 people who are unemployed. For the millions that are left
behind, this assistance is desperately needed.

Furthermore, last
December we passed a tax package with about $42 billion in tax cuts for
multimillionaires without requiring an offset. Now we are paying for
this choice, and we are not prioritizing the assistance that families
need. This is the message that we conveyed to Speaker Boehner and Leader
Cantor."
http://lee.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=57§iontree=35,57&itemid=2334

Thanx for this important info.

Phillymg wrote:Thanx for this important info.

X2

Unemployment was at 4.6 when President Bush signed an emergency bill to extend unemployment.

This sounds encouraging.
So pour on the calls and letters and faxes to the Republicans.
Lets get this bill moving.

knarf wrote:Unemployment was at 4.6 when President Bush signed an emergency bill to extend unemployment.

I thought it was 6.5% when President Bush signed the first extension. I could be wrong. (I was wrong, once, but it was a long time ago )

mrgolf wrote:

knarf wrote:Unemployment was at 4.6 when President Bush signed an emergency bill to extend unemployment.

I thought it was 6.5% when President Bush signed the first extension. I could be wrong. (I was wrong, once, but it was a long time ago )

Your right, sorta. It was 6.7. Where in the heck did I get 4.6?
Either I didn't have enough, or too much.
What ever!!!!

knarf wrote:

mrgolf wrote:

knarf wrote:Unemployment was at 4.6 when President Bush signed an emergency bill to extend unemployment.

I thought it was 6.5% when President Bush signed the first extension. I could be wrong. (I was wrong, once, but it was a long time ago )

Your right, sorta. It was 6.7. Where in the heck did I get 4.6?
Either I didn't have enough, or too much.
What ever!!!!

Numbers always seem to slip from my mind.

The last thing I want to see is a floor vote now. If it goes on the floor now, as is, it will be defeated

I know she has alot on her plate recovering from the horrible assassination attempt on her life (& the murders & injuries of others) but I was thinking that it would be great if Rep. Gabrielle Giffords would consider cosponsoring HR589. Arizona's unemployment rate is 9.6% & her state surely has alot of 99ers. God bless her as she recovers.

Phillymg wrote:I know she has alot on her plate recovering from the horrible assassination attempt on her life (& the murders & injuries of others) but I was thinking that it would be great if Rep. Gabrielle Giffords would consider cosponsoring HR589. Arizona's unemployment rate is 9.6% & her state surely has alot of 99ers. God bless her as she recovers.

God bless Gabby!