Unemployment Benefits Extension Dies In Senate
A bill that would have continued providing extended unemployment benefits to millions of Americans has been killed after a third vote failed to pass the measure, the Wall Street Journal reports.
This means that 1.3 million unemployed Americans will lose their benefits by the end of this week, with millions more to follow. By July 10 a total of 2 million workers will be cut off.
Democrats failed to secure the 60 votes needed to pass the measure, ending 57-41.
The bill wouldn’t have made more than 99 weeks available to those collecting benefits, but it would have ensured that the unemployed workers who were once eligible to collect the full 99 weeks would still be able to do so. Instead, the failure to extend benefits to those eligible is like “sort of pull[ing] the rug out from someone halfway through,” labor economics analyst James Sherk told the WSJ. (Sherk works for the conservative Heritage Foundation.)
The percent of workers who have been out of work long-term, meaning six months or more, is at an all-time high of 46 percent.
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