WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Democrats have launched the eCall to Extend Unemployment Insurance, a web site where Americans looking for work can share their stories and join the effort to extend federal unemployment insurance programs through 2012. The Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits programs, which currently provide up to 73 weeks of additional unemployment insurance, are set to expire Dec. 31. Without renewal, more than two million Americans will be cut off from unemployment insurance by early February and six million will lose benefits by the end of next year. Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee Ranking Member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) this week introduced H.R. 3346, legislation to preserve the federal programs through 2012.
The eCall to Extend Unemployment Insurance provides the 14 million Americans looking for work with an online hub to share their stories and call for an extension of the federal programs. Congress has never allowed the federal programs to expire while the unemployment rate remains as high as it is today - at 9 percent.
“With nearly 7 million fewer jobs in the economy today than when the recession started in December 2007, unemployed workers are facing a job market where over four people are fighting for every job opening, and long-term unemployment is at a record high," Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin wrote in an e-mail launching the eCall to Extend Unemployment Insurance. “Congress must act before the holidays so that unemployed workers and their families have the security that the rug is not about to be pulled out from under them and our economy has the confidence that workers will be supported while they look for jobs."
More information about the eCall to Extend Unemployment Insurance can be found here. Information about H.R.
