Congress Should “Stop Playing Games” and Pass a Clean Extension of the Payroll Tax Cut and Unemployment Insurance

Washington, D.C. – Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on today’s vote on an extension of unemployment insurance and payroll tax cuts that also allow states to implement burdensome drug testing requirements for the unemployed to claim the benefits they are entitled to:

“We sincerely hope that members of Congress will stop playing games with the livelihoods of millions of Americans and pass a clean extension of unemployment insurance and the payroll tax cut. With unemployment at 8.6 per cent for the country, 15.5 per cent for African Americans, and 11.4 per cent for Latinos, it’s time for action on our economy – not politics. 

Extending unemployment benefits will help the economy recover while providing badly needed assistance in today’s historic economic crisis. Congress has provided emergency UI relief in every major recession since the 1950s and has never allowed the program to expire when unemployment was higher than 7.2 percent. It would be unconscionable to put additional strings on this relief that do not address the real causes of the current unemployment crisis.

Particularly shameful is the provision that allows states to institute costly drug testing measures as a litmus test for participating in the program. It is un-American to treat the poor, people of color, single parents, and young adults – all of whom are disproportionately unemployed in this economy – as criminals.

Being out of work doesn’t make someone a drug abuser or any less of a model citizen than anyone else. It simply means that they’re out of work.

These are harmful and pernicious stereotypes that are being exploited as a poison pill in an otherwise vital extension of unemployment insurance and payroll tax cuts.  Such exploitation of the basest prejudices in our society has no place in a mature discussion about our economy.”

Nancy Zirkin is executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.