Unemployment: Congress Has Never Before Dropped Extended Benefits With Jobless Rate So High

Though the jobs crisis shows few signs of abating and the unemployment rate continues to hover near 10 percent, Congress allowed extended unemployment benefits to expire at the beginning of June, causing so far more than 1.2 million long-term unemployed to miss checks.

During normal times, state provide 26 weeks of unemployment benefits for workers laid off through no fault of their own. Federally-funded extended benefits have given the unemployed additional weeks during eight recessions since the 1950s. If Congress fails to reauthorize the current round of extra jobless aid, it will be the first time since then that extended benefits have been allowed to expire when the national unemployment rate is above 7.2 percent.

"This is both unfair to the unemployed, who face a historically difficult situation through no fault of their own, and economically unwise as it threatens the prospect of a strong and sustainable recovery," says a new report from the National Employment Law Project and the Center for American Progress. "The consequences are obviously dire for those Americans out of work, and could be equally devastating for employed Americans who are counting on a sustained economic recovery to keep their jobs and boost their earnings."

The report shows that in previous recessions -- in 1973, for example -- extended benefits have been left in place until unemployment dropped to as low as 5 percent.

HuffPost readers: Have you been affected by the current lapse in benefits? Tell us about it -- email [e-mail].

The stimulus bill and subsequent extensions gave the unemployed up to 99 weeks of benefits in some states -- an unprecedented amount of help. When it came time to reauthorize the extended benefits in May, conservative Democrats in the House and Senate had lost their appetites for stimulating the economy with deficit spending. Despite authoritative reports to the contrary, many members of Congress suspect the extended benefits discourage people from looking for work.

Both chambers of Congress are currently scrambling to pass standalone unemployment bills after a broader domestic bill that included a reauthorization of extended benefits stalled in the Senate. If Congress manages to reauthorize the benefits, people who prematurely exhausted will be paid retroactively.

Click HERE to download a PDF of the report from NELP and CAP.

Comments

[kaptaintripps]

11:52 PM on 08/20/2010

...of course not. The name of this game is "Kill the Middle Class/Working Class" at any cost. How much more do we unemployed have to take before we wake up?

[keedy9473]

05:47 PM on 07/08/2010

Why is it that we can aid to every country but our own. Why is it that we can continue to fund the war, but, can't help our own citizens here. Congress is full of crap, I cannot believe that they believe we would rather stay home & collect less then what we were paid on a job that was forced to let us go. Are they serious, my unemployement is $800 less a month than my salary. I would LOVE to have a job that paid me close to what I was making. Unfortunitely I can't find work that pays me 70% of what I made. Again it doesn't affect them so they(congress) could care less. Will some of the congressmen/women stop thinking with their ass & think with their hearts. You are really letting your country down. Stop the war that Bush ragedy ass started & help "your" country that Obama is trying to help.

[elfish]

07:16 AM on 07/07/2010

As of June 10th, there are Seven Teams of Scientist Working on the Well:

1. Pressure Analysis Group. This team is headed by Dr. Steven Choi. They are analyzing pressure gradients and differential pressure measurements to determine damage to the well head, and the Blow Out Protector and help with flow rate measurements. They are the team the team brought in the gamma radiation scanners that X-rayed the BOP and determined that one of the Blind Rams hadn't closed.

2. The Flow Rate Analysis Group. This team is headed by Dr. Marsha Mc.Nutt. It has several different subgroups working on Flow Rates.

3. The "Plume Modeling" team is using "particle image velocitmetry" to analyze flow rates. Their estimate is 20,000 to 40,000 barrels a day.

4. The "Mass Balance" team is using Infrared Imaging and Satellite Imagery to calculate flow rate. Their estimate is 12,600 and 21,500 barrels a day.

5. The "Reservoir Modeling" team is using geologic formation, well composition, well logs and pressure measurement to estimate flow rates. Their estimate is 35,000 to 60,000 barrels.

6. The "Nodal Analysis Team" is using input from the Reservoir Modeling team as well as pressure, temperature and fluid composition at the leak points to estimate flow. They haven't finished their work.

7. The "Woods Hole Oceanogrpahic Institution" team used accoustic techniques and is estimating 25,000 to 50,000 barrels a day.

[elfish]

07:15 AM on 07/07/2010

2. The Flow Rate Analysis Group. This team is headed by Dr. Marsha Mc.Nutt. It has several different subgroups working on Flow Rates.

[elfish]

07:15 AM on 07/07/2010

1. Pressure Analysis Group. This team is headed by Dr. Steven Choi. They are analyzing pressure gradients and differential pressure measurements to determine damage to the well head, and the Blow Out Protector and help with flow rate measurements. They are the team the team brought in the gamma radiation scanners that X-rayed the BOP and determined that one of the Blind Rams hadn't closed.

[jessica rosado-71]

03:11 PM on 07/06/2010

i just want to say thank you to the Congress members that voted against this, I am about to lose my home, my utilities are turned off and I have no food to feed my children....I had to returned my car to the dealer and now i have more debt and absolutely no income what so ever. We should form a march and camp in front of the White House or in front of the Congress members' homes and have them feed us and take care of our needs...Isn't that what the government is there for?...They are doing everything they can to make our new President look like the bad guy, but when Bush was in office (the man couldn't even deliver a speech that made sense) anything he tried to pass did...its because of Bush that we are in this situation to begin with...since we are not working who wants to take a trip to the Capital?

[pjlim]

12:17 PM on 07/03/2010

Just take Rush's advice: "There's always dumpster diving". How many members of congress will be missing a paycheck or a meal? Or in John Boehner's case, a night at his favorite tavern.

[Mikyung Lim]

10:58 AM on 07/03/2010

I guess, it's double, triple slapping on people who lost their jobs:

First, by systematically allowing Wall Street bankers to legally rob money from people's bank accounts and stirring up economic meltdown;

Second, by blocking their unemployment benefits, which had been always offered before this economic meltdown.

Why these politicians were elected originally? What for?

[gorideabike]

09:06 AM on 07/03/2010

If we can not afford to help our out of work citizens, we can not afford to subsidize the war industry either. Just sit out a week in Iraq and Afghanistan and that should cover the UI extention.

[elfish]

08:03 PM on 07/02/2010

no facts, no links, no references and no documentation so all they can do is vent their

[elfish]

08:02 PM on 07/02/2010

Must have struck a nerve? When republicans resort to name calling, it always means they have

[elfish]

08:02 PM on 07/02/2010

Must have struck a nerve? When republicans resort to name calling, it always means they have no facts, no links, no references and no documentation so all they can do is vent their bile.

[want a job]

12:51 AM on 07/02/2010

30billion to go to Afghanistan, I wish it was being used to get our men and women home. 30 billion hmmmm thinking that we could use that money here, For like the unemployed? To all you men and women that voted against us this week, I really do hope you enjoy your paid holiday, for us unemployed will be looking through our homes to see what we can hock so we can buy food. Can I come to one of your homes to work your fourth of July party? I know how to bar-tend.

[mudshark12]

11:05 PM on 07/01/2010

Does anyone out there aside from me think that congress, by NOT extending the Unemployment Insurance benefits has said to the unemployed (without actually saying it) "Let them eat cake"?

[hollybork]

06:52 AM on 07/03/2010

Yes. I am fanning you. The congress routinely votes against the best interests of the American taxpayer by avoiding funding social programs while committing to useless wars, giving away tax money to corporations or oil companies, and then telling us they are doing it for our own good. They are really thinking: "we can eat you up and consume your profit, and you won't do anything about it. Fools. Ha ha ha!" The Congressional Republican contingent is enabling and partnering with predatory capitalism to consume the middle and lower income people of this country.

Why do my Republican friends vote such people into office? Why must we repeatedly battle with a neanderthal contingent of irrational, selfish so called "conservative" men and women to get any progress in this count? They call fundamental progress "socialism." Basic services the rest of the civilized world take for granted are missing: free education, mental and physical healthcare. We are losing our health care and our homes. We cannot get unemployment compensation.

Those who destroyed the economy, the financial industry, still perch in the catbird seat. We cannot get financial reform to prevent bankers from consuming this nation's entire profit.They have issued credit default obligations worth 10 times our gross national product!!

Congressmen who oppose the people are part of the class consuming us. So yes, I agree. "Let them eat cake," they tell us. "We will get away with it too," they smirk to each other, as they consume us..

[Democrat in the South]

03:26 PM on 07/06/2010

Bingo!!!!!

[Tonias View]

10:22 PM on 07/01/2010

Just curious, since the economy is in a terrible financial crisis and I was laid off, at no fault of my own and my government has not helped the situation, is it unreasonable for me to file a lawsuit against my government for negligence? For violating the 14th Amendment -Equal protection of the laws or 8th Amendment for cruel and unusual punishment?

[refugette]

11:12 PM on 07/01/2010

yes.

[MeinNH]

10:39 AM on 07/11/2010

If you do, keep us up to date....I bet a lot of other people will sue with you!