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Sat 28 Feb, 2004 11:31 am
Extra Unemployment Benefits Lose in Senate
Fri Feb 27,12:19 AM ET Add Politics - U. S. Congress to My Yahoo!
By LEIGH STROPE, AP Labor Writer
WASHINGTON - A Senate measure to extend federal unemployment benefits failed by two votes Thursday despite the election year support of 12 Republicans from states hit hard by layoffs.
Democrats tried to attach the amendment to a gun liability bill, but it failed 58-39 in the GOP-controlled Senate. The margin was two votes shy of the 60 needed to overcome a procedural objection.
The measure would have extended the emergency benefits program for six months, providing 13 weeks of extra unemployment benefits to people who exhaust their state benefits ?- usually after 26 weeks.
The unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent last month from a high of 6.4 percent last summer, but the economy still is not producing many new jobs. In fact, more than 2,400 U.S. employers reported laying off 50 or more workers in January, according to the Labor Department (news - web sites). It was the third-highest level since the government started tracking mass layoffs a decade ago.
Democrats are seizing on the troubled job market to boost their election prospects in November. Some Republicans think that they might be vulnerable.
Those concerns led 39 Republicans to break rank last month to support a benefits extension in the House.
"This vote sends a clear message to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that we cannot keep ignoring the needs of Americans displaced by this faltering economy," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
Republicans said the unemployment rate was consistently dropping and is much lower than in previous recessions. It hit 7.7 percent in 1992 and 10.8 percent in 1982.
"I think we have to determine when's enough," said Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla. "And I happen to think that we've crossed that line."
Nickles said jobless workers have more incentive to find a job when the extra unemployment benefits stop. "The more you pay people not to work, the less inclined they are to work," he said.
Republicans voting in favor of the extension were: Sens. Christopher Bond of Missouri, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Elizabeth Dole (news - web sites) of North Carolina, John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, James Talent of Missouri and George Voinovich of Ohio.
Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia was the only Democrat to oppose the amendment.
That's because the Republicans think the economy is on the way up. Those senators have probably never really been unemployed in their life. Even if they were, most of them have millions in the bank so why would they support something they don't personally need.
I moved from a state (Oregon) that's had the highest unemployment rate in the country for almost 3 years now. I moved to Idaho which has one of the top 5 best econemys in the country. I noticed a deference right away in the calls that I suddenly started getting on my resume. When you live in a part of a country where there are 300 other people applying for the same jobs that you are and more and more people are getting layed off every week it's not so easy to find a job and get off unemployment.
The government knows about this problem but they are turning their back because they thing that unemployed people are just lazy and that everybody should be able to get a job in 6 months. Well I'm sorry but that's not true in all parts of the country.
Well at least the states can still extend benifits:
Oregon extends jobless benefits to thousands laid off in past year
An "insured unemployment rate" increase triggers additional payments for as many as 15,000
03/05/04
BRENT HUNSBERGER
Sometimes, bad news on the unemployment rate can be good news for the unemployed.
State officials on Thursday announced the extension of jobless benefits for as many as 15,000 Oregonians laid off in the past year.
The Oregon Employment Department's "insured unemployment rate" hit 4.52 percent last week, officials confirmed, triggering a 61/2-week extension for workers who had filed their initial unemployment claims in the past 52 weeks but whose benefits had run out.
The payments were extended through the Oregon Additional Benefits program, which kicks into effect once the state's insured unemployment rate exceeds 4.5 percent.
The rate measures jobless rates for former workers of companies covered by the state's insurance program. The state's regular unemployment rate -- 7.7 percent in January -- measures rates of joblessness among workers laid off by all employers.
The Employment Department estimates the number of workers who qualify for the extension at 14,000 to 15,000.
The news could bring relief to Marion County resident Sharon Tovrea, 64, whose $306-a-week benefit expired two weeks ago. She cut back on groceries to make loan payments on her 1998 Saturn, with only her husband's Social Security check as income.
Tovrea lost her job when the Salem nursing home where she worked as a dietary supervisor closed in August. She's not sure she's eligible for the extension because the Employment Department won't tell her.
"I call every day, and they say they have no information on any extensions," Tovrea said. "You have to sit on the phone waiting 10 to 15 minutes. They won't tell me anything."
Employment Department officials say field offices are too busy to take calls from the public about the extensions. All potential recipients will be notified by mail, a spokesman said.
"As we speak, the letters are going out," spokesman Craig Spivey said. "We're trying to avoid 30,000 or 40,000 (people) calling our field office."
The department will begin accepting claims March 14, Spivey said.
Typical.........
Guess who voted against it, duh !
The Republicans...........
But if some giant corporation needed financial aid they would jump at the chance to help them with taxpayer money.
SSS
sss2333
sss2333, welcome to Able2Know; glad to have you here.
What is the state of unemployment in the area in which you live?
BumbleBeeBoogie
Re: sss2333
BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:sss2333, welcome to Able2Know; glad to have you here.
What is the state of unemployment in the area in which you live?
BumbleBeeBoogie
It's not good, I am in central Illinois, Peoria to be exact. The jobs are all low paying burger flipping work etc. I have a friend with a college degree who recently lost his computer job. He signed up with the local job service, they keep sending him jobs that pay $6 to $7 an hour. Hell his unemployment pays more than that, why would anyone take a job that pays less than their unemployment benefits.
In Galesburg the maytag plant that has 1600 workers is closing and sending all those jobs to mexico. The city only has 30,000 people, maytag is the #1 employer, it will devastate the community. And the plant is making money, they are just moving the jobs to mexico to increase the company profits.
SSS
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"Nickles said jobless workers have more incentive to find a job when the extra unemployment benefits stop. "The more you pay people not to work, the less inclined they are to work," he said. "
Despicable.
What ever happened to compassionate conservatives ?
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