| Washington, D.C.- Congressman Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) expressed his disappointment today that the House Republican leadership rejected two amendments he offered that would have extended unemployment benefits for an additional 26 weeks for newly unemployed workers and 13 weeks for those workers who have previously exhausted their unemployment benefits. This marks the second time that the House Republican leadership thwarted efforts to extend unemployment benefits to laid-off workers.
“We cannot afford to ignore the financial crisis facing thousands of laid-off American workers,” said Kildee. “While multi-billion dollar corporations have received significant assistance from the federal government, thousands of unemployed American workers have been left behind. It is time to provide immediate assistance and relief to those hard-working Americans that have contributed to the economy of our nation.”
In March 2002, the federal government began an unemployment benefit extension program that provided 13 weeks of temporary emergency unemployment benefits to unemployed individuals. Michigan received an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits because it has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. Despite strong opposition from the Republican leadership in the House, unemployment benefits were finally extended in January 2003 until May 31, 2003. However, over 1 million workers who had already exhausted their benefits were denied benefits under the temporary extension. Regrettably, more than 2.1 million jobless Americans will lose their unemployment compensation within the next 5 months. Currently, there are over 1.1 million unemployed workers who are no longer eligible for unemployment benefits. |
![[News from Congressman Dale Kildee]](letterhead.gif)