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Unemployment Extension Bill is Now Law, But the Fight for the Unemployed is Far From Over
July 22, 2010 - by Donny Shaw
As you all probably know by now, President Obama has officially signed the unemployment extension bill into law, sending it the state unemployment offices for them to begin implementing. The bill extends unemployment insurance benefits for people who have been jobless for more than 6 months until November 30th. It will also pay benefits back retroactively for the more than 2.5 million people who have had their payments cut off since Congress let extended unemployment benefits expire on June 2nd.
To track the bill as it moves to the individual states, visit the OpenCongress Benefits Wiki, where you can find state-specific information on how it’s being implemented. Since it’s a wiki, it only works if everyone adds what intel they have on what’s happening with the bill in their state. So, please, if you’ve seen any local reports or received any information from your state labor agency on when to expect checks, add it to the wiki so that other folks who may be searching for the information can benefit from it.
We’ll be continuing to cover the unemployment insurance issue as it goes forward, but, for now, as this current wave of congressional action winds down, I want to urge all of you who have been following the unemployment extension bill to continue paying attention to what’s happening in Congress. As Annie Lowrey at the Washington Independent reported recently, the unemployment insurance extension bill that was signed into law today is most likely going to be the last one. That means that, come December, we are going to be right back in this same situation, with hundreds of thousands of unemployed people per week losing their unemployment insurance payments without any real chances for finding jobs.
As the chart at right shows (click it for a larger version), the median duration of unemployment today is more than twice as high as it has been since at least 1965. Long-term joblessness is just an incredibly huge problem in the U.S. right now, and when Congress cuts off extended unemployment benefits for good in December, we’re going to be facing a 9%+ unemployment rate and no support for the unemployed beyond 26 weeks.
That’s going to propel a giant shift in the political landscape. We’ve seen recently that when unemployment benefits expire, a huge amount of political interest and energy is generated. For example, over the past 30 days, unemployment insurance legislation garnered more than 10 times as many page views on OpenCongress than the major Dodd-Frank financial reform bill (H.R.4173) that was moving through Congress at the same time. So, the energy will be there. But the challenge is going to be finding the right place to focus it.
The point I want to stress here is that even though this unemployment insurance bill has now been signed into law, the fight for the people who have lost their jobs during this recession is really just getting started. If you check out of the discussion on jobs and unemployment now, you’ll be in a worse situation for re-engaging and making a difference come November or December. The earlier you’re involved in the issues and organized around solutions, the more success you’ll have in the legislative battles when they occur. I’ll be covering the jobs and stimulus situation on OpenCongress over the next few months. I hope you’ll keep following along, either here (RSS) or on the OpenCongress Facebook page.
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Comments
Displaying 61-90 of 215 total comments.
Sad story. The parks in my area have more homeless people sleeping in the open and living in their cars. Most people ignore them, but they are real people facing poor circumstances. We are a wealthy Nation our tax money should be taking care of all of these folks. Instead there are a few big corporations that got billions in the bailout money, and then stole it in a forms of bonus.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891
Report informs: That Kenneth Feinberg reviewed payouts to 600 executives at 17 financial companies in late 2008. Report found nearly 80% totaling more than $1.5 million were unmerited. The story ends with special note that this year, 2010, could be a record for wall street bonuses. Big corporations squeeze their workforce, the tax payer, the consumers, and don’t create jobs, and they win…
This is what FreedomWorks calls Economic Prosperity. We will just have to wait a little longer for it to “Trickle Down”.
AWI Applauds Governor Crist for Helping Provide
Critically-Needed Unemployment Compensation to Long-Term Unemployed
http://www.floridajobs.org/publications/news_rel/CrsitEextendsEB.htm
just got off the phone with AWI its gonna take about 2 weeks before FL residents get any info..
i hope this eases the minds in florida…
EB:
This federal proposal also includes an extension of the full federal funding for Extended Benefits (EB). However, payment of EB is contingent on the state being in an extended benefits period established under state law. Florida’s extended benefit period ended on June 5, 2010. State legislation would be necessary to allow Florida to take advantage of this additional federal funding, which would provide up to 20 additional weeks of benefits to people who have already exhausted all benefits available under their state and EUC claims and have not already exhausted an EB entitlement established prior to June 5, 2010.
Why is Florida not included in the benefit extension? All the states should be entered into this bill?
I still think the democrats would help the unemployed with extensions and additional Tiers (I don’t think the republicans will).
EUC:
Tier I: Under the proposal, unemployed workers receiving benefits from their regular state claims would have until November 20, 2010 to exhaust their state benefits and establish eligibility for EUC Tier I, which provides up to an additional 20 weeks of benefits.
Tiers II and III: Unemployed workers currently receiving benefits on EUC Tiers I, II, or III could qualify for the next level of benefits if their current tier is exhausted by November 27, 2010. EUC Tier II provides up to 14 weeks of benefits and Tier III provides up to 13 weeks of additional benefits.
Tier IV: Those who exhaust Tier III benefits by November 27, 2010 could establish eligibility for Tier IV benefits, which provides up to 6 additional weeks of benefits.
AWI estimates 34,459 Floridians are losing eligibility for benefits each week due to the EUC eligibility deadlines that expired in May.
The program that requires state legislative action is EB. This program would be available to unemployment compensation customers only after they have used up all EUC to which they may be entitled, which under the current structure is up to 53 additional weeks on top of the state program’s up-to-26 weeks of benefits.
go to www.kickthemallout.com
More of the same old BS here in Louisiana. Unemployment office doesn’t take calls & their web site I’ve been directed to hasn’t been updated since Tuesday. I can’t find any info on how or when they will implement payments. I have no info to give bill collectors & my car payment is due. I am soooo frustrated!
I feel for all the people in Florida, the media doesn’t give a fuck about those who are struggling, both the senate and the house have taken another week long vacation, it seems like the only solution is a Riot of some sort, In California a city manager is getting paid more than the president, these are our tax dollars, millions of unemployment compensation dollars are reporting fraud claims, I got about two months left on my claim, what do they expect us to do if they are no jobs out there, I wish i had my old job back so all this could go away…..it feels like I’m stuck in a bad episode of Back to Future and Biff is our Senator…..Ima fuck someone up soon
To johnhunt70 They should put funds in so you can file your claim, I know in Indiana they are saying up to 2 weeks before they will update. I was at the end of the second tier and ready to go to tier 3 mine also says $0 to claim for now but this should be change when they update the system, and be able to file and get the retro pay. Hope this helps you.
There is more to the story of John Kerrys yacht
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/john-kerry-saves-500000-b_n_656985.html
It’s not quite like the original poster made it sound.
Hey Seanurse ~ sorry I didn’t respond earlier – I just noticed your comment.
Yes, Oklahoma offers direct deposit as well as the debit card option. I chose the debit card because the money is available sooner than direct deposit.
As for the extra $25 – I’m still a little blown away about it. It wasn’t expected at all, but definitely appreciated. ExGop said that only the new beneficiaries will not receive the additional funds. So I’m not really sure if it only applies to the backpay or to future payments too. Guess we’ll see next week.
Best of luck and God Bless!
Saturnsc2, I was on my original 26-week claim which expired 2 days after the June 2nd cut-off. I can’t see some of us getting the extra monies in our retro-pay and others not. So I’m pretty sure you can count on it!
Best of luck and God Bless!
What about people that are on the EB extensions? I still have 18 weeks left for Extended Benefits in Michigan. Does this extension mean I will get those remaining 18 weeks. I called to certify this week and my certification was accepted however my check was deposited into my account because the extension had not passed when I called to certify. Can anyone confirm that this extension was for both EUC and EB?
Is there anyone that has any information on Louisiana? Still no change to website, can’t get through on phone ( it automatically says they can’t take your call just like it has for the past 3 weeks), and I’m starting to come all undone over here! ARGH!
We need to do something!!!
http://www.flanews.com/?p=10053#comment-13783
I ran across this while doing a search. It is from October 23, 2009. I find
it interesting that what is being played out on the Unemployed is like a
broken record, only each time it’s played it get worse for more and more
people. We can not forget what has been taking place over the last few years.
http://www.progressillinois.com/2009/10/21/durbin-unemployment-speech
Art leDoux
Yes, Floridians, 2 weeks just to mail out information, not money. Charlie Crist does the right thing and his leaders underneath him could give a shit.
Don’t the States only have until August to file with the federal government to receive their share of the Extended Benefits Program? I thought I read that somewhere… and Florida says it may or may not talk about getting some of those funds in September or March or something like that… Oh, but they did include them when balancing Florida’s budget so someone’s not being truthful here… FLORIDA HAS THE 6TH HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AND THE STATE REFUSES 100% FEDERALLY FUNDED EXTENDED BENEFITS
ExGOP, Thank you! That helps clarify the extra money. Definitely no complaints from me, but I didn’t want to include it in my budget if there was any chance of them reversing it.
And yes, I am very surprised that it was deposited so quickly. I wasn’t expecting it until the end of the month as they originally stated.
My prayers remain with everyone! Lets hope every state can pull it together like OK has.
txgalnoke thats great to hear. im glad for you. does your state deposit to debit cards or direct deposit to your accounts? that is what illinois does. i hope thats a sign and we get paid soon too. as far as the extra 25 thats what i was tring to find out yesterday. i have a friend who has been getting the extra 25 all along. i believe we are getting 25 extra for all back pay checks just not the new weeks. makes sense because new law just eliminated it , so it didnt effect the back pay. we shall see. well good luck and god bless.
Florida residents, I would not panic just yet. I know some of the articles read that there will be no benefits for us, and that may be the case, but it could also be a misunderstanding. All I am saying is just give it a few days and see what happens. I think there may be some confusion involved as to what type of benefits this new law entitles. The way the law reads is that this extension will extend the existing tiers. The lawmakers in Florida are against extending EB which is something completely different. Again I cannot say for sure, I may be wrong but I recommend not worrying about it until Monday, then if there is no news on the unemployment website for Florida, call them and ask for info. Make sure when you talk to them that you refer to it as the new tier of benefits just passed into law and not EB or it may confuse them. Read this article from this link. The bold print that says AN EXPLAINER http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=160158
What about us 99ers?
http://www.flanews.com/?cat=1
Here is the press release that I have
Here in Florida the government couldn’t even count the vote correctly with a calculator. I doubt very much if they are going to get this one straight. You think that someone from the F.L.U.I.D. (the internet claims site) would post something new or relevent to the latest information on the new bill that just passed. Why is it that some states have their things in order and immediately do the right thing and FLORIDA will take 2 weeks just to mail out information…..I take it as arrogance and heartless official that really just don’t give a shit about anything but their fatass paychecks and bonuses……
An explainer on the federal and state unemployment programs (Courtesy Agency for Workforce Innovation):
There are two different Unemployment Compensation programs being discussed in Congress – federal Extended Unemployment Compensation, or EUC, and Extended Benefits, or EB.
The critical information to note is that if Congress acts this week to extend the deadlines for Extended Unemployment Compensation, eligible Floridians will absolutely be able to receive these benefits. The EUC program does NOT require state legislative action.
I am wondering, if things would have be cheaper for the tax payers, if the Congress hadn’t mucked everything up and concentrated all their efforts onto the 99ers. States will now have to pay people overtime, if the states are doing so, to get everything back up in running. It is like we have to clean up after Congress’ mess.
It is dually noted how slow Congress works unless there are earmarks or their own pay raises. This definitely adds to the passage of a bill time.