Untitled Document

News Release
Congressman Bob Etheridge
North Carolina

December 9, 2003

Contact: Sara Lang
Phone: (202) 225-4531

Etheridge Condemns Republican Leadership for Failure to Extend Federal Unemployment Benefits

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) today criticized the Republican Leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives for failing to extend unemployment benefits before the House of Representatives adjourns for the year. The federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program, workers who exhaust their 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits are eligible for an additional 3 weeks of federally funded benefits. Under current law, federal unemployment benefits will expire December 31, when Congress is not in session, so both the House and the Senate must act now to extend benefits to 4.6 million unemployed workers.

"Far too many North Carolinians face a holiday season without a job and now face a New Year without benefits," Etheridge said. "Extending unemployment benefits will not only help unemployed North Carolinians, but it is also an effective way to help the economy and create jobs. For every $1.00 spent on unemployment benefits, $1.73 is returned in economic growth."

North Carolina's unemployment rate is the 12th highest in the nation at 6.1 percent, and some areas of the Second Congressional District have rates close to 13 percent. Through October, TEUC pumped nearly $630 million into North Carolina and provided benefits to 275,961 workers. More than 11,000 North Carolina workers are expected to exhaust their state benefits in January without being eligible for federal extended benefits.

The situation for North Carolina's unemployed workers is made even more difficult because dropping unemployment rates recently disqualified the state for an extra set of benefits from the federal government. After three months of dropping unemployment rates, the state no longer qualifies for federal money used to extend benefits for up to 13 weeks. This third tier of benefits called TEUC-X was targeted for high unemployment areas.

Etheridge supports a bill offered by Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Sandy Levin (D-MI) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) (H.R. 3568) to extend the federal benefits program for an additional six months, increase the amount of benefits to 26 weeks, include coverage for 1.4 million workers who have already exhausted their extended benefits, and expand unemployment insurance coverage for low-wage and part-time workers. The cost of the unemployment insurance extension is covered by the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which was developed for just the kind of economic situation we are facing today.

Since the beginning of the Bush Administration, long-term unemployment has tripled to the highest level in almost 10 years. The percentage of Americans exhausting their regular unemployment benefits without finding a job has reached a record level. Many workers will run out of benefits long before they find a job. In fact, two million Americans have been out of work for more than six months.