Senate Finance Committee Begins Hearings Tomorrow

As reported by WorldNewsVine, on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, the Senate Finance Committee headed by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are scheduled to begin hearings and report testimony on “Using Unemployment Insurance to Help Americans Get Back to Work: Creating Opportunities and Overcoming Challenges" (as titled by the Senate Finance Committee).

The persons scheduled to give testimony are Jane Oates, M. Ed., Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, United States Department of Labor, Washington D.C., Doug Holmes, JD, President, Strategic Services on Unemployment and Workers Compensation and the National Foundation for Unemployment Compensation & Workers Compensation, Washington D.C., Karen Lee, JD, President, National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) and Commissioner, Washington State Employment and Security Department, Olympia, WA., and finally Mark Sandi, Ph.D., Chief Economist and Cofounder, Moody’s Analytics, West Chester, VA.

This scheduled hearing is also posted at http://finance.senate.gov/hearings.  This may be the first glimpse that the unemployed see if Congress has the political will for a Tier 5 unemployment extension.  Currently, no legislation has been introduced or being debated which will add additional tiers or additional weeks of benefits for those who have exhausted their benefits. 

The legislation currently being worked on, which will provide another 30-day stopgap measure for those who have not exhausted the current maximum benefit amount and extend dates of eligibility, is speculated to pass this week and be retroactive to the April 5th cutoff date.

We are all hoping that the testimony given tomorrow provides more insight as to what Congress plans to do about the millions of unemployed and the current problems which face the American workforce.

It would be a great benefit for those who have lost their benefits if Issa Decker was there tomorrow to read the petition to Congress which began nearly a month ago.  The Change.org petition championed by Decker currently has about 9,000 signatures and is growing rapidly as more attention is brought to it. 

If you have not had a chance to see the petition and would like to sign it, please visit http://www.change.org/petitions/view/the_99ers_need_a_tier_v_added_to_unemployment_benefits and sign the online petition and let Congress know the need and the urgency for those who have exhausted benefits and still cannot find work. 

We will update you on what happens tomorrow at the committee and C-SPAN should soon update their website to reflect when and which C-SPAN channel will be covering the hearing tomorrow.