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(Washington D.C.)- Led by Subcommittee Chairman Jim McDermott, Representative Levin and other members of the Ways and Means Committee joined together to introduce legislation to extend eligibility for federal unemployment insurance programs so that those who exhaust regular benefits or lose their jobs next year will be eligible for the emergency unemployment measures which were created last year and through the Recovery Act. Provisions, which provide up to 99 weeks of unemployment insurance, as well as a $25 addition to unemployment checks, are set to expire at the end of the year. Once emergency programs expire, approximately 30,000 people per day will exhaust their benefits, reaching three million by the end of March.
“In the face of 6 job seekers for every available job and the highest level of long-term unemployment since 1948, it is vital that we extend the emergency unemployment program," said Rep. Levin. “While we focus our efforts on spurring job growth, the unemployment program is there for families to make ends meet and weather these difficult times.”
Unemployed workers in Michigan are currently eligible for up to 99 weeks of unemployment insurance through a combination of extensions and federal support provisions, the first of which was passed in June of 2008. However, all extensions and federal support are currently scheduled to end at the end of the year. This would mean that workers currently collecting benefits would not receive all the benefits to which they are entitled and that those who lose their job next year would only receive the standard state unemployment benefit.
The legislation introduced today would push back the expiration date of the emergency unemployment compensation program and federal support for extended benefits to March 31st, 2011. In addition the legislation extends the $25 increase added to unemployment checks by the Recovery Act until this date. Every dollar spent on unemployment benefits generates $1.63 in economic activity, according to Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.
The Recovery Act also provided a nine month COBRA subsidy to assist unemployed workers remain on their former employer’s health insurance. Using the subsidy, eligible unemployed workers need to pay only 35 percent of their total premiums to continue the health coverage that they had through their jobs, and the federal government reimburses employers or health plans for the remaining 65 percent of premiums.
“We must also extend eligibility for the COBRA subsidy that we established in the Recovery Act which makes health insurance affordable for unemployed workers. Losing your job should not result in losing your health insurance and until we enact comprehensive health care reform, we must take steps to support those struggling to maintain affordable coverage,” Rep. Levin concluded.
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