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Tell Rep. Tom Delay to extend unemployment benefits and leave no jobless worker behind.
On Dec. 28 nearly 800,000 jobless workers lost their unemployment benefits because House Republican leaders sent Congress home on Nov. 22 rather than calling for a vote to extend unemployment benefits. They join the ranks of 1 million jobless workers who have already exhausted their benefits. Send a fax to Rep. Tom Delay with a copy to President Bush and your representative right now. Tell them to restore and extend unemployment benefits for all those who need them until the economy has recovered.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Leave No Jobless Worker Behind
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am outraged at your failure to extend unemployment benefits to hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers whose benefits expired on Dec. 28--three days after Christmas. In addition, some 95,000 additional unemployed workers will run out of their regular benefits EVERY WEEK and they will have no jobs or federal emergency benefits to fall back upon. They join a million jobless workers who have exhausted both their federal and state benefits.
Every day that goes by is a day that these families struggle to pay rent or mortgages, utility bills and grocery bills.
This is a moral tragedy that should shame you. These hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers--already victimized by a stagnant economy--have no other options now that their benefits have expired. How could the House have headed home for the holidays while destroying the holidays for desperate workers?
I urge you to schedule a vote on this issue as soon as Congress returns in January. Congress and the president should extend this program and provide additional assistance for workers who have already exhausted their federal benefits. Leave no jobless worker behind.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
December 26, 2002
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Hundreds of thousands of jobless workers lost their unemployment benefits Dec. 28 because the Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives, aided by President George W. Bush’s silence on the issue, sent members home Nov. 22 without extending emergency unemployment benefits. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank, their failure to act meant nearly 800,000 unemployed workers stopped receiving weekly support checks right after Christmas.
Three weeks after Congress left town, Bush said Congress should extend benefits, but, according to the center, his decision leaves too many workers behind and is "painfully late."
In addition, some 95,000 jobless workers will run out of state unemployment benefits each week and be left without jobs or temporary federal unemployment assistance, according to an analysis by the center. By the end of March, a total of 2.1 million jobless workers who would have received temporary benefits under a Senate bill the House refused to act on will be without aid, the report says.
Learn more about Your Job and look up resources for surviving unemployment.
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