{"id":219353,"date":"2010-01-22T16:45:59","date_gmt":"2010-01-22T21:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=74604"},"modified":"2010-01-22T16:45:59","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T21:45:59","slug":"senate-dems-urge-10-month-extension-of-unemployment-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/219353","title":{"rendered":"Senate Dems Urge 10-Month Extension of Unemployment Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With unemployment still hovering in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/empsit.nr0.htm\" >double digits<\/a> and no real relief in sight, a group of 30 Senate Democrats today is urging party leaders to extend emergency unemployment benefits through the end of 2010 &#8212; 10 months longer than current law dictates.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the lawmakers argue that shorter extensions might be cheaper, but they leave state budgeters in a state of constant uncertainty.<span id=\"more-74604\"><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Short term extensions, while still helpful to families, only add strain to state agencies that must constantly re-tool their computer systems, and at the same time, continue to assist the millions still searching for work. As our economy continues on a path to recovery, we need a robust extension of safety net programs that have provided a lifeline to families since the recession began.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Signing the letter were Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin (Iowa),\u00a0Bob Casey (Pa.), Jack Reed (R.I.),\u2028 Sherrod Brown (Ohio)\u2028, Chris Dodd (Conn.),\u2028 Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.),\u2028 Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.),\u2028 Al Franken (Minn.),\u00a0Carl Levin (Mich.),\u2028 Frank \u00a0Lautenberg (N.J.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), \u2028Roland Burris (Ill.),\u00a0Arlen Specter (Pa.),\u2028 John Kerry (Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.),\u2028 Ron Wyden (Ore.),\u00a0Edward Kaufman (Del.),\u2028 Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.),\u2028 Patrick Leahy (Vt.),\u2028 Robert Menendez (N.J.),\u2028 Herb Kohl (Wis.),\u2028 Tom Udall (N.M.), Ben Cardin (Md.),\u2028 Robert Byrd (W.Va.),\u2028 Daniel Akaka (Hawaii),\u2028 Jeff Merkley (Ore.),\u2028 Barbara Mikulski (Md.),\u2028 Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Michael Bennet (Colo.), as well as Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).<\/p>\n<p>Democratic leaders are working on legislation to tackle the continuing problems related to the economic downturn. The package is widely expected to include an extension of unemployment insurance, COBRA health benefits, food stamps and help for states faced with budget crises. They&#8217;d hoped to have health care reform out of the way first. Now, that&#8217;s looking unlikely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With unemployment still hovering in double digits and no real relief in sight, a group of 30 Senate Democrats today is urging party leaders to extend emergency unemployment benefits through the end of 2010 &#8212; 10 months longer than current law dictates. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Finance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}