Article

Extending Help to the Unemployed

Alexandra Cawthorne and Melissa Boteach discuss the need to extend unemployment insurance on The Hill's Congress Blog.

Another week passes and still no up or down Senate vote to extend unemployment insurance. This is no time to play politics. This is no time for “dithering."

According to the National Employment Law Project, every day 7,000 additional workers are running out of unemployment benefits. That means that since the House passed its bill to extend unemployment insurance on September 22, approximately 266,000 workers have been left high and dry while the Senate continues to delay a vote on this crucial legislation—and 7,000 workers yesterday, 7,000 workers today, and 7,000 workers every day that the Senate puts off this vote are being pushed closer and closer to this brink.

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Authors

Alexandra Cawthorne Gaines

Vice President, Poverty to Prosperity

Melissa Boteach

Senior Vice President, Poverty to Prosperity Program