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Press Release

For Immediate Release
September 23, 2009

Contact: (202) 225-3965

Crowley Applauds Extension of Unemployment Benefits Helping over 89,000 New Yorkers This Year Just in Time for the Holidays

Legislation will extend unemployment benefits slated for elimination in December of this year; extends benefits for up to an additional 13 weeks once signed into law

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Joseph Crowley (D- the Bronx, Queens) applauded passage of up to 13 more weeks of extended unemployment benefits for an estimated 89,662 out-of-work New Yorkers who would have run out of unemployment benefits this December. The extended benefits were approved for 29 high-unemployment states including New York by the U.S. House of Representatives as part of the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009 (H.R. 3548). The bill does not add to the federal deficit, and was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 331-83.

“New York has been severely impacted by the economic downturn and I am glad additional aid will be provided to those in Queens and the Bronx who have been hardest hit by this recession,” said Congressman Crowley. “Over 89,000 New Yorkers and their families would have seen their unemployment benefits evaporate during the upcoming holiday season if not for this act by Congress. I am proud to have supported this important lifeline for thousands in my community.”

The Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009 (H.R. 3548) will help over 89,000 New Yorkers, with benefits including:

Up to another 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits in 29 high unemployment states including New York. This brings the total number of emergency benefits to 46 weeks for out-of-work New Yorkers;
Extension of unemployment benefits for an estimated 89,662 workers in New York, who would otherwise exhaust both their regular and American Reinvestment and Recovery Act-extended benefits by the end of the year;
Assistance for over a total of one million jobless workers across the nation who reside in other high unemployment States who are projected to run out of unemployment compensation by the end of the year.
The extension of unemployment benefits is deficit-neutral and it is fully paid for by a one year extension of the federal unemployment tax and a systemic reduction of overpayments.

Congressman Crowley is a co-sponsor of the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009 and a member of the exclusive Committee on Ways and Means, which has jurisdiction over the unemployment insurance program.

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