Senate Inaction on Unemployment Insurance a “Lump of Coal” for Jobless Workers this Holiday Season

Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership
Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the
Senate failed to extend unemployment insurance for millions of Americans:

“The Senate seems determined tonight to turn its back on
millions of jobless workers and their families and deal a blow to our fragile
economic recovery by failing to reauthorize unemployment insurance, which
expires at midnight.

Blocking a vote on the Baucus bill is a tragic and
historic mistake. Congress has never before cut back on federally-funded
benefits when unemployment was over 7.2 percent, and it’s been near double
digits for more than a year. The vote against the bill appears especially
indifferent to Black and Hispanic workers, whose unemployment rate is far
higher and whose communities have suffered the most since the start of the
Great Recession.

The Baucus bill is a classic win-win. The fact is that UI
payments go straight back into the economy to support local businesses, create
jobs and reduce the demand for public services, costing taxpayers less in the
long run. Continuing the current federal UI programs for 13 months would
generate $10 billion in economic activity every month, saving up to 900,000
jobs.

Instead, the Senate is redefining the phrase ‘penny wise
and pound foolish.’ Many of the same lawmakers insisting that the one-year,
$54.6 billion cost of the bill be offset are somehow eager to extend tax the
Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans with no offsets, increasing our deficit by
$700 billion over the next 10 years.

But this fight is a long way from over. With time running
out on the 111th Congress, now is the time for serious negations that will
insure that the Senate does not adjourn without reauthorizing unemployment
insurance for another 13 months.

This holiday season, working Americans deserve more than
a lump of coal from the Senate. They deserve a strong lifeline to help sustain
them until the private sector begins hiring again.”