Health & Fitness
Extend Unemployment Benefits
Call Your Member of Congress
and tell them to
EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS!
(202) 225-3121
A message from Church Women United Inc...
Last week, the House of Representatives adjourned for vacation without extending the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program (“EUC”), meaning that 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans will lose their unemployment benefits just three days after Christmas.
Even though the economy is slowly recovering, too many workers remain unemployed. The EUC program, first authorized by Congress in 2008, has provided crucial support to the economy and to millions of Americans who lost jobs through no fault of their own. EUC will end on December 28, 2013 unless it is extended. Congress had a chance to do so last week when it passed the budget deal, but the House of Representatives adjourned for Christmas without taking any action.
Allowing the EUC to expire would be harmful to millions of workers and their families, counterproductive to the economic recovery, and unprecedented in the context of previous extensions to earlier unemployment insurance programs. Not only would this result in economic hardship and possibly catastrophe for millions of men, women and children who desperately depend on unemployment benefits to keep from falling into poverty, it could cost 240,000 jobs in 2014 and damage the larger economy in many other ways.
What you can do:
- Call and/or email your Member of Congress at (202) 225-3121 and tell them to make extending the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program their first order of business when they return from vacation and to make the extension retroactive.
Click Here to read and share an analysis of the effects of cutting off unemployment benefits prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
- Click Here to read, download and share a flyer on the potential impact of shutting down federal unemployment benefits.
- Click Here to view and share an interactive map that breaks down the number of unemployed Americans affected in each state.
Click Here to watch and share an interview with LaShean Daniels-Palmer, a mother of four who relies on unemployment benefits.
For many of us, the Christmas season is a time of joy and renewal as we celebrate the birth of our Lord. But for all to many others, including the long-term unemployed, the holidays are a time of hardship and uncertainty. It is wrong at any time of the year for our leaders to turn their backs and walk away from our brothers and sisters who have fallen on hard times, but it is especially unacceptable for them to do it at this time of year.
So, it is up to us to increase the pressure on our representatives and tell them to do the right thing and extend unemployment benefits for those who, through no fault of their own, are struggling to hold on and get back on their feet. Our calls and emails and letters and prayers can make a difference to millions of people!
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Olanike Alabi Please feel free to contact me about any issues, either by responding to this email, or by emailing me at olanike.alabi@gmail.com. Also, you may follow me on Twitter or become a friend on Facebook.
