Friday, June 13, 2008
MEDIA CONTACT: STEVEN ENGELHARDT (314) 504-4029
Clay Applauds House Passage of Extended Emergency Unemployment Benefits
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WASHINGTON –Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, praised the huge bipartisan U.S. House majority that voted to extend emergency unemployment benefits by a vote of 274 - 137. H.R. 5749, the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act, will immediately provide up to 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits to jobless workers in every state, with an additional 13 weeks of benefits for states that have particularly high rates of unemployment.
"This emergency extension of unemployment benefits is essential to the 8.5 million Americans who are looking for work," said Congressman Clay. "In my own state of Missouri, an estimated 62,471 workers will be eligible for this benefit extension. Since the first of the year, 324,000 Americans have lost their jobs. And just last Friday, the Labor Department reported that in May, the unemployment rate jumped from 5 percent to 5.5 percent, the largest one-month increase in 22 years."
Mr. Clay urged the U.S. Senate to approve the measure quickly and urged President Bush to sign the measure into law without delay. "There is no justification for the president's threat to veto this bill, or for Republican opposition to helping millions of working families who are struggling in the Bush economy…especially when they have no problem spending over $10 billion a month in Iraq to pay for a war that we should not be fighting. This bill is not about charity, it's about showing compassion and standing up for our values. Extending unemployment benefits is the right thing to do for American workers and it's the right thing to do for our economy.".