Unemployment: Congress Has Never Before Dropped Extended Benefits With Jobless..

_Unemployment: Congress Has Never Before Dropped  Extended Benefits
With
Jobless Rate So High_
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/unemployment-congress-
has_n_...)  

First Posted: 06-30-10 09:54  AM   |   Updated: 06-30-10 10:37 AM

Though the jobs crisis shows few signs of abating and the unemployment
rate
 continues to hover near 10 percent, Congress allowed extended
unemployment
 benefits to expire at the beginning of June, causing so far more than
1.2  
million long-term unemployed to miss checks.
During normal times, state provide 26 weeks of unemployment benefits
for  
workers laid off through no fault of their own. Federally-funded
extended  
benefits have given the unemployed additional weeks during eight
recessions  
since the 1950s. If Congress fails to reauthorize the current round of
extra  
jobless aid, it will be the first time since then that extended
benefits
have  been allowed to expire when the national unemployment rate is
above 7.2  
percent.
"This is both unfair to the unemployed, who face a historically
difficult  
situation through no fault of their own, and economically unwise as it
threatens  the prospect of a strong and sustainable recovery," says a
new report
from the  National Employment Law Project and the Center for American
Progress. "The  consequences are obviously dire for those Americans
out of work,
and could be  equally devastating for employed Americans who are
counting on
a sustained  economic recovery to keep their jobs and boost their
earnings."
The report shows that in previous recessions -- in 1973, for example
--  
extended benefits have been left in place until unemployment dropped
to as low
 as 5 percent.
The stimulus bill and subsequent extensions gave the unemployed up to
99  
weeks of benefits in some states -- an unprecedented amount of help.
When it  
came time to reauthorize the extended benefits in May, conservative
Democrats in  the House and Senate had lost their appetites for
stimulating the
economy with  deficit spending. Despite _authoritative reports_
(http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2010/
el2010-12.html)  to the  contrary,
many members of Congress suspect the extended benefits _discourage
people
from looking for  work_
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/10/john-linder-
unemployment_n_6...) .
Both chambers of Congress are currently _scrambling_
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/29/unemployment-benefits-
bil_n_...)  to pass
standalone  unemployment bills after a broader domestic bill that
included a
reauthorization  of extended benefits stalled in the Senate. If
Congress manages
to reauthorize  the benefits, people who prematurely exhausted will be
paid
retroactively.

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