Quinn, 21 Governors Call For Unemployment Benefit Help
Yesterday, key Senate leaders -- including Sen. Dick Durbin -- endorsed bills working through Congress (H.R. 3404 and H.R. 3548 in the House and S. 1647 in the Senate) that would extend unemployment benefits
for folks struggling to find work. And Gov. Pat Quinn along with ...
Yesterday, key Senate leaders -- including Sen. Dick Durbin -- endorsed bills working through Congress (H.R. 3404 and H.R. 3548 in the House and S. 1647 in the Senate) that would extend unemployment benefits for folks struggling to find work. And Gov. Pat Quinn along with 21 other governors are urging Congress to enact that legislation quickly. The Tribune reports:
<!-- P2P_LIVE_EDIT "content_item_dateline_preview" END --> <!-- P2P_LIVE_EDIT "content_item_body_preview" START -->The Chicago Democrat is calling on lawmakers in Washington to extend unemployment for people whose benefits are about to run out.
Quinn and 21 other governors signed a letter sent to Congress. The letter says 400,000 people nationwide could exhaust their benefits by this month.
Amid the worst recession in decades, demand for unemployment insurance is sky-high. More troubling though, as this graph created by the Center for American Progress illustrates, is the staggering number of "long-term unemployed" Americans. Among them are an estimated five million people who have been searching for work for more than six months:
Demand is also draining the state's unemployment benefits fund. At
the start of the year, Illinois held $1.45 billion in available
resources. As of August 31, ProPublica found
that the state's trust fund balance had dwindled to $21 million, even
after borrowing more than $300 million. (That figure does not include a
$200 million windfall from the federal stimulus program that was approved earlier this month.)
According to Quinn's office, 13,000 families in Illinois have already exhausted their benefits and 40,000 more will by the end of the year without Congressional relief. The National Employment Law Project's estimates (PDF) are even higher. And until firms start hiring again, more and more people will see their financial options shrink.
Comments
Please pass this fast! My unemployment ended the last week of August and I have 2 children that I have to feed and take care of. If this doesnt pass we will be living on the street. I have applied for all jobs even if i'm not qualified I just don't know what to do anymore and now that Christmas is coming up fast I'm really getting worried. I just hope that I qualify for this extension also! PLEASE HELP FAST!!!!!!!
PASS THIS PLEASE! And hopefully before their October break, because some of us can't afford that luxury.
As a college graduate with a high GPA and past professional experience and mother of 2 young girls, Just as we are starting to catch up somewhat, my unemployment will too end in 2 weeks. I have applied for 1 1/2 years to jobs of all kinds, even those I am over qualified for and under qualified for. Yet my resumes seem to go off into "cyberspace" with not even so much as a reply, and calls go unreturned. For every job I apply to, 200+ others apply within the same few days. Countless interview processes of 4 step interviews taking up to 6 weeks in duration, making it to the final round, only to be turned down, and in some instances turned down out of concern I have 2 young children at home who will ultimately need mom to stay home when they are sick, etc.
Now I fear after modifying my mortgage, I will soon fall behind again and be back in the same boat as I was, facing foreclosure. I've worked out payment arrangements with my creditors (some of which have taken me to court), and now how will I pay that as well. And this will be the case for many Americans, ultimately negatively effecting the economy again, meaning homes once out of foreclosure, back in foreclosure, credit companies once getting paid, now not getting paid again, and endless cycle of stimulus working-stimulus not, stimulus working-stimulus not. We still need to be able to "pay" these payment arrangements and "modified" payment amounts, or the economy goes down again.
And please, as for the many quotes of "New jobless claims down for this month", well of course when there are only so many people left that companies can lay off and still produce their products. But the number I want to know is, how many of the unemployed were actually back to work last month. I believe there may be some merit to the posters comment that it would make the unemployment numbers in the US "appear" better to the layman who doesn't realize that the number only looks better because all those who have exhausted benefits are no longer a factor in the equation. I hope we don't have a government that would stoop to that!
Please Congress act NOW! Do not wait! ! Include all states in your extension. We all need your help!
Unemployed Ban together!
http://www.unemployed-friends.forumotion.com
Please pass this bill. I am a single mother that was laid off. I have been trying and trying to get work. My unemployment ended two weeks ago and I am getting extremely low. I apply daily to all jobs and get no resonse. Help!
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/
Please Type HR 3548 or 3404 and READ!
HELP!!!!!
Make Calls if you still have phone service.
Send e mails if you have access to the internet.
BOTH Houses go on OCTOBER break! HR 3548 must be presented to the floor of Congress ASAP! Why are they delaying this bill? I will remember this when the November 2010 elections are upon us. This is wrong! We are exhausting our benefits this month, PLEASE pass HR 3548 both Houses.
Please pass the bill,I'am also a single parent with one daughter and we hardly can make ends meat.I was laid off last year and still can't find work,I'am also sick with anxiety and depression,someone please help.
Please pass this A.S.A.P. in Sept 2009 with unemployment at it's worst in 27 years we need benefits to continue this will help our economy and we can pay our mortgages. Please pass NOW.
Please pass this bill before your recess, we who are not able to find jobs are in fear of losing everyhing!
Do the right thing and PASS THIS BILL NOW.
Thank you
Please pass this for all states. My unemployment runs out in 3 weeks and I'll be homeless at the age of 57. Been working since I was sixteen. This is a nightmare.
Please as a single mother of two young girls in NJ I am desperate for this bill too pass. Please do it in an expeditious manner if you do suport it. I need to pay my mortgage for September. Thanks so much for your consideration in this matter.
How do our representatives have so many other things on thier agenda while us unemployed are left twisting in the wind. How many more weeks are they going to b.s. while people wait for an extention. It will take a few more weeks after the president signs it for our states to "update thier systems" and send out claim forms. I was supposed to be voted on the first week of Sep., not the last week. Thanks again for letting the people of this country know who's in charge NOW SIGN THE FUCKING BILL before i become homeless and have to resort to stealing and violence. I know right were'd i'd go to, a couple state representatives houses!
Thats really going to make them want to sign it for you..... I understand where you are coming from, having no job, panicing about money, but speaking threats and cruel lanuage to the people currently in control of the movement of the bill doesnt exactly give them positive reenforcement to help you out... I hope this bill get past, I hope I can find a job, and I will continue to pray for those who are in control of the bill situation, pray for those who are struggling, and pray for me and my family.
AMEN!
Our family. like so many of yours, are waking up each day wondering if this is the day we get some positive news on our money situation. It breaks may heart to hear the pain and fear in your voices. If I didn't have Jesus in my life I wouln't want to go on. But I know that God has the final say on everything and everyone. Like some of you we have been homeless and hungry. We lost our home. I wake up thankful that I can see, that I can walk, that I can hear, that my son in Afghanistan made it through another 24 hours, that my husband is alive, that our other sons are well. I also know that not all of you have even those blessings. Please know that I am praying for you, for me, for all of us who never dreamed that in the United States of America our government would not only step aside and do nothing to help their citizens but they would make it so difficult for others to work and support their families. While we are waiting and searching for employment stay true to who you are, who your families know that you are. Be an example to the people in your life. We need to support each other. This can be the most wonderful country in the world but we have to do what is expected of us. Elect godly men and woman who know what this country was founded on. Only then will this nightmare end.
In Peace, Cindi4031
Cindy,
Read your bible closely. Jesus taught his disciples to pray for Gods Kingdom (Government) to come and Gods will to be done on earth. Matt 6:9, 10. No human will be leading that government. Luke chapter 4 particularly verses 5, 6, which shows that satan is in charge of the earthly governments and he puts into office whom he chooses, which is why the problems cannot be solved by human efforts. Daniel 2:44 shows that all these governments will be crushed , distroyed and God will set up a kingdom.... So look to Gods Government in the hands of Jesus and pray he will fullfill that scripture soon by destroying all human governments and bringing about the promised new earth where righteousness will dwell. 2 Peter 3:13.
Learn more about Gods Kingdom which is a real government that will rule the entire earth. Rev 21:4 shows the outcome of that government. No more death, tears or pain....the former things have passed away.
keep the unemployment going until people find jobs and your heath care bill will pass and the presidents ratings will go up,people are more concerned about how there going to pay there bills and feed there familys than there health care for right now.the unemployment benefits should continue until the percentages get back to where it was before this mess started,13 weeks only will get most of us checks until december and then we will be back to ask for more extensions
Please pass this Bill, I don't know what we are suppose to do. I worked for the same CO. for 24 years got layed off. I am 53 years old you apply and call, and you never here a thing. There are not any jobs!! We also need an extension on the COBRA Subsidy, struggling to pay that, but when that runs out how many more of us will be without healthcare. You got elected OBAMA, you said we would have change, but you never said it would be change of the worst kind. Please do what is right extend the unemployment benefits and the COBRA subsidy, until this Country gets back on track!!!!!!!!!!!
I am the mother of 3 and my extended benefits were exhausted a couple of weeks ago and I have been applying for 10+ jobs per week for the past 6 months or so and still have not received a call or anything. I have applied for all jobs that I know that I am qualified to perform and those that I am able to learn quickly, but nothing yet. Our bills continue to arrive and I need to be able to provide food, etc. for my family. We just need our basic needs to be met and wants can wait until I have employment. Please help us and process another extension for my family immediately.
Thanks in advance for all that you are able to accomplish.
I live in Michigan with my wife and 4 year old son. I still have a job, but my wife lost her job 2 years ago.
Her unemployment ran out 2 weeks ago. She has been looking for a job, and there is nobody hiring here.
The unemployment has just been barely keeping us afloat. We can barely afford our mortgage which is underwater by about 50% and we are unable to refinance because it is not owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Michigan is having some very hard times right now. Please pass this bill ASAP.
Please do the right thing and get this bill passed today! McDermott advised this bill be passed quickly and that was in July!! what will it take, all the energy spent on the insurance reform bill and how are we going to pay for insurance if we haven't got a job, or unemployment to pay?? please please pass this bill TODAY!
Thank you
Julie W
California
unemployment at 11.9 %
My entire family is unemployed( mother, 2 sisters, moms boyfriend, my sisters boyfriend and myself) If we do not get this extension we will loose everything and we will be living on the streets with 5 kids. My family and I would greatly appreciate it if you would pass another extension to give us a little more time. There are no jobs that have called any of us back. I have applied for several jobs a week and no calls nothing, it is getting very agrivating. What am I to do...If we don't get this extension I will not know what to do. please help me and my family and all the others that need this assistance.
my son has applyed for every job possible for7 months. please pass this extension. My son -in -law has also looked at anything 8 months and counting . Their house is for sale on a short sale,hope it goe's thru.If not they loose everything they have worked 7 years for.This is a man that has worked 3 jobs at a time in the past.
I have worked at the same company for 17 yrs. where I had hoped to retire. Last year my company moved operations out of the country. I'm 58 now and although I know I'm qualified for jobs I apply to,my responses have been that other applicants were a better choice,that is if I get any reply at all. I know my age is a big factor in this so what am I to do? Lose everything I worked so hard for? Please, we all need your help.
Make the unemployment extention checks permanent until our representative's get the unemployment rates back down to 6%. Why make us beg every 3 months for action? Get it done right and get it done NOW, there's a few million people dependent on those new checks THIS MONTH. Make the UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENTION ACTIVE UNTIL FURTER NOTICE (6% unemployment target).
I am a 61 year old salesman and was laid off in 2007 due to an alleged "REORGANIZATION" even though I was was #1 salesman in the company. Three of us "seasoned" salesmen were terminated within weeks of each other. My age has inhibited my search for new employment. There was a time (pre-Reagan) when all of this would constitute age discrimination and be protected against by federal law. Now there is no protection from this type of discrimination as the laws have been gutted as to their effectiveness and the court system seems to be actively disinterested. This action will affect me until I die because Social Security payment benefits are predicated on my final years of employment, or in my case....unemployment. My home has been foreclosed and we have no health care. I no longer have life insurance, our cars are in various states of disrepair and even food has become a luxury. I made six-figures for years and my wife was a successful Realtor. When the depression hit, the bottom fell out of the housing market and her business went south. When I had unemployment benefits we could struggle to keep our heads above water. My benefits have ended and we are no longer struggling to keep our heads above water, we are drowning. I'm not sure what will happen to us. We are being squeezed by the convergence of the vices of economic depression and age discrimination with no end in sight of either.
A small but important respite of extended unemployment benefits would help tremendously in hopes of something more permanent.
An Ohio Admirer
Pat Koehl
Extensions are useless to people like me who ran out a long time ago and still have income under the Federal poverty level. When I am laid off 10/4/09 from a PT, temporary, minimum-wage job, I doubt I'll qualify for unemployment compensation again. I didn't earn a B.A. cum laude to be treated like trash & prevented from starting my career. It's necessary to end long-term unemployment, not just help those about to run out of unemployment compensation. Social Darwinism is causing more discrimination against the unemployed, and vicious slander of us ["an unemployed person is not a fine wine" - Chris Campbell, quoted in the Chicago Tribune 7/13/09]. My own Rep. Jan Schakowsky quoted me 12/6/07 in the Congressional Record about the need to end long-term unemployment, but so far my ideas for solutions have been kept out of the press and public discussion. I'm mailing correspondence to Rep. McDermott about this bill and who it excludes.
Well who would have known that you could exhaust regular unemployment AND NOT qualify for the Federal Extension? Just found out today that I don't - Why? I don't know if all states are like this but in IL they go back about a year to find the base wage that's comprised of 4 quarters. For the Federal Extension you have to take the highest wage earned in one of the 4 quarters and multiply by 1.5 to get the minimum amount you must have earned when you add all of the 4 quarters together. I had one quarter where my employer gave me a lump sum severance payment and 2 quarters where I was unemployed plus 1 quarter of regular wages. Guess what? My combined income for all 4 doesn't meet that minimum (highest quarter times 1.5) so even though I was a wage earner and worked for more than 12 years for the company that laid me off, I'm out of luck. Been stressing about finding a job and looking every day for hours but nothing. Now this - no benefits because of this calculation instead of basing it on the fact that I worked full-time for 12 years and was let go. Was happy to have had something coming in so I wouldn't worry about losing my house. Now, it's all over.
The House is scheduled to vote on the extension this afternoon. We'll be following the developments over here:
http://progressillinois.com/2009/9/22/unemployment-benefits-vote-today
I have been out of work since 2007, and yes, still looking for work. I have used up all of my regular unemployment benefits, the 33 week federal extention (EUC), and the 20 week Illinois state extended benefits (EB) the last week of August of this year. I recently received a letter from the unemployment office, and on it it has a new benefit year ending in late August of 2010. I did breifly work about one month only to be laid off again, but fell short for regular benefits because I was laid off after 28 working days, and to qualify, I needed to have worked 30 days. But this letter I received also had a new certification call in date on it. But, on the comment box on the bottom it says: " It has been determined that you are ineligible because you have not been paid $440.00 in covered employment outside your base period high quarter indicated above". But also says in this letter: " IMPORTANT: Even if you do not have additional wages, you may eligible to receive or continue to receive emergancy compensation (EUC)(STATE EXTENDED BENEFITS)". Now; my question to this is that, now that the congress has passed another 13 week unemployment extention, will this qualify as another (EUC) emergency compensation, or just another (EB) state extended unemployment compensation? I would like to know, because as you can probably know by now, I am flat broke, and in need of this extention. I know that 13 weeks is not going to solve anybodies problems but it does help. Does anyone have an answer to this question?
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