Congresswoman Chellie Pingree votes to extend unemployment benefits for Maine families
 
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said the jobless report out this morning points to the need to extend unemployment benefits while the economy recovers.
 
“Economic recovery has yet to reach many Maine families,” Pingree said.  “We are headed in the right direction but we still have a long way to go, and this is why Congress needs to extend unemployment benefits now.”
 
Before adjourning for the Memorial Day recess, Pingree voted for a bill that passed the House that extended those benefits. The Senate adjourned without acting on the bill. 
 
“Those benefits are critical to helping families make ends meet and I wasn’t about to leave Washington without voting to extend them,” Pingree said.
 
The jobless report this morning showed the United States added 431,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent.

“When I started in Congress we were losing 800,000 jobs a month so the economy has come a long way since then,” Pingree said.  “But the fact is that many Maine families still haven’t experienced the turnaround yet.”