WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today made the following statement regarding the bipartisan bill introduced today by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Dean Heller (R-NV) to extend emergency unemployment insurance:
“The bipartisan bill introduced today in the Senate answers Speaker Boehner's demands that any extension of unemployment benefits be paid for and be provided only on a prospective basis. The bill could be easily combined with upcoming legislation to fund transportation improvements or to extend tax breaks to meet the Speaker's final demand that any UI extension be part of larger legislation that will create jobs. The time for excuses is long over. Three million Americans - including nearly 300,000 veterans - have now lost their unemployment benefits because of Republican obstructionism. We must act now."
