It didn’t get much media attention, but last week Congress passed an extension of unemployment benefits to help workers who have lost their jobs due to the current economic turmoil. The bill provides an additional seven weeks of unemployment insurance to workers whose benefits have expired, and an additional 13 weeks for jobless workers in states where unemployment has been higher than 6% for three months or longer.
The really amazing thing isn’t that Congress passed this, though; it’s that President George W. Bush actually signed it! Will wonders never cease.
Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, hailed the bill’s passage:
Unemployment benefits for more than a million Americans are set to expire by the end of the year. This extension will provide much-needed help for these families who still have to put food on the table, pay their home and heating bills, and look for a job.
With our nation’s financial wounds deepening by the day, we can’t allow the rug to get pulled out from under workers looking for a new job. Extending unemployment benefits is a no-brainer - it’s one of the most effective things we can do to help workers and stimulate our economy.
And Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, agreed, but noted that extending unemployment benefits was only the first of many steps that will have to be taken to stabilize the economy:
Today’s action is a vital step in repairing the tattered safety net for the millions of families struggling during these harsh economic times. But there is still much to be done, and I look forward to working with our new President and the new Congress early next year to do all we can to heal our stricken economy.
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Bush completely screwed our economy, so it is only fitting that he should do a fewn things to try to look good on his way out of office. Unemployment extensions will temporarily help, but it is like putting an band-aid on a wound. Pretty soon, money will run out for these extensions, so don't count on it for very long.
Posted by Keith Kirkendall on November 24, 2008 at 5:44 PM
Posted on November 24, 2008 at 5:44 PM