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WYDEN REDOUBLES EFFORTS TO
EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR OREGONIANS
Senator cosponsoring legislation to provide
13 additional weeks’ coverage, help longer-term unemployed
whose benefits have already expired
January 26, 2004
Washington, DC – U.S.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today threw his support behind the
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act (S. 2006), legislation
to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks or more for out-of-work
Oregonians whose benefits have expired. Oregon has one of highest
unemployment rates in the nation, and more Oregonians lose their
benefits each week as their state unemployment insurance runs
out. In addition to making 13 weeks of Federal funds available
to those whose state benefits have or will soon run out, the legislation
would also amend the current law – in a provision known
as “lookback” – to provide workers in high-unemployment
states like Oregon with additional weeks of assistance. As of
December, Oregon’s 7.3 percent unemployment rate was the
second-highest in the nation, and more than a point and a half
above the national average.
“Thousands of Oregonians
have been looking hard for jobs, and they just need to keep their
families afloat a little longer until they find work,” said
Wyden. “Extending benefits and making sure that folks in
high-unemployment states like ours get the extra assistance they
deserve is the very least Congress should do.”
The most recent Federal unemployment
benefit extension program ran out at the end of December. By January
20, 2004, 16,500 Oregonians had exhausted their state benefits,
with no extended Federal benefits available to assist them further.
Without Congressional action, a total of 23,500 Oregonians who
have been receiving benefits will see them expire by March with
no Federal backstop to follow. Immediate passage of the Emergency
Unemployment Compensation Extension Act will make Federal benefits
available to those workers.
In addition to cosponsoring
S. 2006, Wyden has made job growth his first priority in appropriations
work for the state. With U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), he
recently announced $474 million in transportation appropriations
for Oregon. That money is expected to create thousands of living-wage
jobs on projects across Oregon.
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