On Monday, Nov. 29, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) joined 28 senators in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus urging the reauthorization of current federal unemployment benefits, which are due to expire Tuesday, Nov. 30.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, if Congress does not pass an extension of unemployment benefits, 6 million workers would be without benefits by April 2011. Additionally, if Congress does not vote to extend the benefits, it will be the first time in recent decades that the United States has stopped providing emergency benefits to the unemployed during a recession.
“With nearly 15 million Americans unemployed and the number of unemployed expected to remain high beyond 2011, a long-term renewal of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program and full federal funding of the Extended Benefit programs are necessary to keep our economy on the road to recovery, as well as to keep food on the table and a roof over the head of families across America,” the Senators wrote.
The letter was signed by Sens. Murray, Daniel K. Akaka, Mark Begich, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Roland W. Burris, Benjamin L. Cardin, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Christopher J. Dodd, Dianne Feinstein, Al Franken, Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Tom Harkin, John F. Kerry, Amy Klobuchar, Frank R. Lautenberg, Patrick J. Leahy, Carl Levin, Robert Menendez, Jeff Merkley, Barbara A. Mikulski, Jack Reed, John D. Rockefeller IV, Bernard Sanders, Jeanne Shaheen, Debbie Stabenow, Tom Udall, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Ron Wyden
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