WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today made the following statement after Senate Republicans twice blocked an extension of federal unemployment insurance, which expired Dec. 28 and has now cut off benefits to 1.5 million, a figure that grows by 72,000 people, on average, each week:
“It is outrageous that Senate Republicans turned their back on 1.5 million Americans and their families. This is not the end of our effort to ensure that the stories of the unemployed are told so we can get back to having a program that supports them while they look for work. Congressional Republicans say they want the cost of continuing emergency unemployment benefits offset - a step not usually taken for emergencies. And yet they blocked an extension of unemployment benefits that included spending offsets. Republicans say they want changes to the program, but they blocked a bill that would have significantly scaled back the federal unemployment insurance program. Republicans say they want votes on amendments, but they blocked the extension of unemployment benefits even when given the opportunity to offer amendments. Helping the unemployed during tough times was once a bipartisan endeavor. But now Republicans in Congress seem much more interested in finding excuses, rather than finding a path forward, when it comes to restoring benefits to Americans desperately searching for work. This is a very sad day for our nation and for 1.5 million Americans and their families. Leaving them out in the cold is unconscionable."
