Millions lose unemployment benefits while Republicans push tax cuts for rich

Today unemployed benefits expire for thousands of Oregonians and 2 million workers nationwide.  You would think that this would drive Congress to action.  Instead Republicans and some Democrats are more concerned with giving tax breaks to the rich and cutting the social safety net to appease the deficit hawks.

Yesterday, unemployed workers from the Portland area held a press conference to tell their stories and highlight the plight of unemployed workers in general. 

“As  a single parent, the thought of losing unemployment insurance benefits  right  now is not only discouraging, it is frightening” says Francisco  Holdman of NE  Portland, “my family would most likely be homeless and  it would be impossible  for me to provide the Christmas my children  deserve. It is outrageous that  Congress is considering ending benefits  for the most needy and giving tax  breaks to the most greedy during  this season.”  

Currently over 20 million Americans are out of work or underemployed, and without a major federal investment in creating jobs, the least Congress can do is provide these workers with the income to survive the holidays.  Since Congress did not act by the deadline, Tuesday November 30, 2 million Americans will be cut off from their existing unemployment benefits, left out in the cold for the holiday season.

In addition, Congress has failed to extend the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) emergency fund, leaving even more working people out in the  cold. 

If  Congress fails to extend Unemployment Insurance, it will be unprecedented.   Never in the history of the unemployment program, have federal  jobless  benefits been cut when unemployment levels were this high  (over 9% for 17  consecutive months). The last time benefits were cut  during an economic crisis  was in the 1980’s,  when the  unemployment rate had dropped to  7.2% 

Meanwhile,  Congress is also considering extending Bush’s tax cuts to the  wealthiest 2% of  Americans, costing us $700 billion over 10 years, and corporations are sitting on more than $2 trillion in reserves that could be used to create jobs.