Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is paring back a jobs bill proposal unveiled earlier on Thursday by the Senate Finance Committee, dropping an extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA health insurance subsidies for laid-off workers. The Senate is taking a break next week, so that stuff will have to wait until the end of the month -- the last moment before the previous extension runs out.
"State agencies are going to start sending out letters next week letting people know that their benefits are going to expire," said Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project.
So, even though it's entirely likely that Congress will pass an extension before Feb. 28 -- barring another major blizzard -- people will nevertheless receive letters telling them they're not eligible for the next "tier" of benefits.
Last year's stimulus bill provided up to 53 additional weeks of federally-funded unemployment benefits (broken into several tiers) and a 65 percent subsidy of COBRA health insurance. When those provisions expired at the end of December, Congress scrambled to extend them another three months. If they're allowed to expire at the end of the month, 1.2 million people will exhaust their unemployment benefits in March.
"I think it's disturbing because there are four tiers of emergency unemployment compensation benefits, and if you're on a given tier, you only have a few weeks if the program isn't extended... Individuals could look at running out of benefits in a week or several weeks," said Rich Hobbie, director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.
Aside from the anxiety the situation creates for the unemployed, Hobbie said it's a huge administrative burden for state agencies. Norm Isotalo, spokesman for the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, said Congress's dithering does indeed make work for his office.
"February 28 is rapidly approaching and we still don't have any certainty if the ending date is going to be extended, so the agency is preparing to wind down the payments of extended federally-funded unemployment benefits," Isolato told HuffPost. "But on the other hand, we have to be ready to pull the plug on these wind-down efforts if Congress acts. It could be a lot of wind-down work that all may go for naught if Congress extends the deadline date for these programs. And of course we hope that they do."
Isotalo said that even if Congress interrupts his agency's wind-down work at the last second, unemployed Michiganders would not see an interruption of their unemployment checks.
NELP is frustrated that Congress insists on taking a piecemeal approach to extending the benefits (the extensions do not allow people to stay on unemployment insurance for longer than already provided by the stimulus bill -- they allow people who've been laid off more recently access to the same additional tiers of financial support given to people laid off last year). The piecemeal approach guarantees that every extension will happen at the last second.
"It will always be held victim to a blizzard, to partisan politics, a flood in the spring, elections in the fall," said Judy Conti of NELP, which would rather Congress extend benefits for a full year. "What's going on in Congress is an ever-changing game. The American people and communities surviving on these unemployment benefits can't be held victim to this process."
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/11/congress-leaving-unemploy_n_458991.html
Showing posts with label November Congress Extension. Show all posts
Showing posts with label November Congress Extension. Show all posts
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
EDD To Unemployed In California - "Checks Are In The Mail"
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The state Employment Development Department said by Tuesday it would mail new unemployment benefit checks for 121,000 jobless Californians who had exhausted their benefits.
They've been granted a new 14-week benefit extension.
But the new checks have been delayed for more than a month because of the department's antique computer system.
Now, the EDD said it has straightened out the paperwork problems and those checks will be in the mail by the end of business on Tuesday.
They've been granted a new 14-week benefit extension.
But the new checks have been delayed for more than a month because of the department's antique computer system.
Now, the EDD said it has straightened out the paperwork problems and those checks will be in the mail by the end of business on Tuesday.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Omnibus Bill 1/2 Clears House - Next Week House & Senate Expected To Move Forward On Remaining Domestic Issues, Including Unemployment Insurance Extensions.
The Senate will consider the package over the weekend, because Republicans are blocking a consent agreement to complete the measure early next week.
"If cloture needs to be invoked, then the Senate will need to be in session this weekend for a Saturday vote and a Sunday vote," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. While Reid did not bring up the matter and allow the GOP to object, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made clear that would be the end result.
"We expect to be here this weekend, and look forward to it," McConnell said.
Reid argued the package would pass regardless, with the Senate either staying in to let the cloture clock run over the weekend or agreeing to skip those steps and vote Monday. Senate aides said he would likely file cloture Thursday on the omnibus, setting up a Saturday cloture vote and a Sunday vote on passage.
The package includes six fiscal 2010 spending bills, including the $67.9 billion Transportation-HUD bill, the $64.4 Commerce-Justice-Science bill, the $24.2 billion Financial Services bill, the $163.6 billion Labor-HHS bill, the $78 billion Military Construction-VA bill, and the $48.7 billion State-Foreign Operations bill.
The House and Senate are pushing to clear a second spending package before the end of next week, when the current funding extension expires. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House will act early next week on the fiscal 2010 Defense spending bill, with an increase to the statutory debt ceiling and a jobs package attached.
Pelosi indicated that bill will likely be the vehicle to extend unemployment insurance, and COBRA health and food stamp benefits, tax breaks for small businesses -- as well as more federal money to states and localities to try to avoid public employee layoffs. She said there could be an infrastructure component attached as well.
House Appropriations Committee ranking member Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said Republicans would not support the Defense package if it included extraneous provisions. He also blasted the $446.8 billion bill for including a 14 percent increase for domestic programs, while military construction and veterans funding are held to a 5 percent boost.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wisc., countered that most of the increases are for veterans, war costs, infrastructure and health care. During Republican control, he added, omnibus packages were common and domestic programs were ignored.
"If cloture needs to be invoked, then the Senate will need to be in session this weekend for a Saturday vote and a Sunday vote," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. While Reid did not bring up the matter and allow the GOP to object, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made clear that would be the end result.
"We expect to be here this weekend, and look forward to it," McConnell said.
Reid argued the package would pass regardless, with the Senate either staying in to let the cloture clock run over the weekend or agreeing to skip those steps and vote Monday. Senate aides said he would likely file cloture Thursday on the omnibus, setting up a Saturday cloture vote and a Sunday vote on passage.
The package includes six fiscal 2010 spending bills, including the $67.9 billion Transportation-HUD bill, the $64.4 Commerce-Justice-Science bill, the $24.2 billion Financial Services bill, the $163.6 billion Labor-HHS bill, the $78 billion Military Construction-VA bill, and the $48.7 billion State-Foreign Operations bill.
The House and Senate are pushing to clear a second spending package before the end of next week, when the current funding extension expires. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House will act early next week on the fiscal 2010 Defense spending bill, with an increase to the statutory debt ceiling and a jobs package attached.
Pelosi indicated that bill will likely be the vehicle to extend unemployment insurance, and COBRA health and food stamp benefits, tax breaks for small businesses -- as well as more federal money to states and localities to try to avoid public employee layoffs. She said there could be an infrastructure component attached as well.
House Appropriations Committee ranking member Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said Republicans would not support the Defense package if it included extraneous provisions. He also blasted the $446.8 billion bill for including a 14 percent increase for domestic programs, while military construction and veterans funding are held to a 5 percent boost.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wisc., countered that most of the increases are for veterans, war costs, infrastructure and health care. During Republican control, he added, omnibus packages were common and domestic programs were ignored.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New York and Washington Urged Congress To Action To Extend Unemployment Benefits Today
State labor officials and worker advocates on Monday appealed for quick Congressional action to extend emergency unemployment benefits and to renew health insurance subsidies for the long-term jobless.
Prolonged unemployment insurance, passed this year in the stimulus act, expires this month, and officials estimate that more than one million workers will see benefits end in January if Congress does not act.
The health subsidies, under which the federal government pays 65 percent of insurance costs under Cobra for up to nine months, have already expired and are not available to the newly unemployed, who will have to pay family premiums averaging $1,100 if they want to keep their existing health plans.
Renewal this month of both forms of aid is “a moral imperative,” Sandi Vito, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, said at a news conference here on Monday. Ms. Vito, who was joined by senior labor officials from seven other states, said the extensions were needed “through at least the end of 2010 as a bridge for people.”
Congressional aides said in interviews that renewing the aid programs has bipartisan support.
Democratic Congressional leaders are considering adding these safety net measures to a final spending bill for government operations in the current fiscal year, which they plan to pass before the end of the month. But the immediate prospects were uncertain, particularly in the Senate, which is dealing with health reform and where there is disagreement over how long any emergency extensions should last.
Another year of extended benefits and aid for health insurance, including related tax breaks and a $25 a week addition to benefits that Congress provided this year, would cost about $100 billion, officials estimate.
The state officials and private advocates said on Monday that any delay in renewal would have disastrous effects on people who are on the edge of foreclosure or eviction. Also, if states have to send letters to recipients saying aid is ending and then later must reinstate benefits, “it’s going to be a devastating administrative burden,” said David Socolow, New Jersey’s commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, and would cause delays for applicants.
While national unemployment declined slightly last week, to 10 percent, more than 15 million workers remained unemployed in October and 36 percent of them were jobless more than six months — the highest level of so-called long-term unemployed since data collection started in the late 1940s.
Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard University, said that with so many jobless for so long, the traditional concerns that prolonged benefits would reduce incentives to work were less germane.
“In this economy people will take almost any work they can get, and the prospect of another 13 weeks of benefits isn’t going to alter that significantly,” he said. “People have depleted their savings and exhausted the help of relatives.”
So with prolonged aid, Professor Chetty added, “You are in effect helping them to feed their kids.”
Douglas Holmes, president of UWC, which represents businesses on unemployment insurance and compensation issues, said his group was “not opposed to some further extension,” but cautioned against prolonging benefits too long or adding tax burdens on employers, who already face increases in state unemployment taxes.
The first 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, which average just over $300 a week, are paid by the states with money collected from employers. This year, as part of the stimulus act, Congress agreed to pay for an extra 34 to 53 weeks, depending on a state’s jobless rate. Then, in November, as large numbers started to exhaust that aid, Congress added another 14 to 20 weeks, bringing the potential total to 99 weeks in many states.
But without Congressional action, the extra federal aid will quickly wind down. People who lost their jobs after July 1 of this year, for example, would receive no federally paid extensions once their customary six months of state aid runs out. The extensions are provided in segments and those who are already receiving help in one stage, often awarded for 13 weeks, would finish that term but not receive additional weeks of aid they may have expected.
In January alone, without a renewal, benefits would halt for more than one million unemployed people, according to projections by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group and a co-sponsor of Monday’s press conference, based on data received from the states.
Ms. Vito, the Pennsylvania official, said her office had started receiving desperate calls from people whose health subsidies had just ended and who were unable to pay the full premiums themselves. Under federal Cobra provisions, a laid-off worker can retain his or her previous health insurance for up to 18 months by paying the full cost.
But many, without work, cannot afford the premiums. The federal government this year has paid 65 percent of the cost for up to nine months. Large numbers who started receiving the subsidy this year have used up their time, and since Dec. 1, the aid has not been available for the newly unemployed.
For the average worker with a family plan, the premiums required under Cobra add up to nearly as much as unemployment benefits, according to Families USA, a group advocating health care reform.
Also participating in Monday’s call for action were officials of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Women’s Law Center. State officials from Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New York and Washington joined in the plea for Congress to act.
Full Link at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/us/08unemploy.html
Prolonged unemployment insurance, passed this year in the stimulus act, expires this month, and officials estimate that more than one million workers will see benefits end in January if Congress does not act.
The health subsidies, under which the federal government pays 65 percent of insurance costs under Cobra for up to nine months, have already expired and are not available to the newly unemployed, who will have to pay family premiums averaging $1,100 if they want to keep their existing health plans.
Renewal this month of both forms of aid is “a moral imperative,” Sandi Vito, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, said at a news conference here on Monday. Ms. Vito, who was joined by senior labor officials from seven other states, said the extensions were needed “through at least the end of 2010 as a bridge for people.”
Congressional aides said in interviews that renewing the aid programs has bipartisan support.
Democratic Congressional leaders are considering adding these safety net measures to a final spending bill for government operations in the current fiscal year, which they plan to pass before the end of the month. But the immediate prospects were uncertain, particularly in the Senate, which is dealing with health reform and where there is disagreement over how long any emergency extensions should last.
Another year of extended benefits and aid for health insurance, including related tax breaks and a $25 a week addition to benefits that Congress provided this year, would cost about $100 billion, officials estimate.
The state officials and private advocates said on Monday that any delay in renewal would have disastrous effects on people who are on the edge of foreclosure or eviction. Also, if states have to send letters to recipients saying aid is ending and then later must reinstate benefits, “it’s going to be a devastating administrative burden,” said David Socolow, New Jersey’s commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, and would cause delays for applicants.
While national unemployment declined slightly last week, to 10 percent, more than 15 million workers remained unemployed in October and 36 percent of them were jobless more than six months — the highest level of so-called long-term unemployed since data collection started in the late 1940s.
Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard University, said that with so many jobless for so long, the traditional concerns that prolonged benefits would reduce incentives to work were less germane.
“In this economy people will take almost any work they can get, and the prospect of another 13 weeks of benefits isn’t going to alter that significantly,” he said. “People have depleted their savings and exhausted the help of relatives.”
So with prolonged aid, Professor Chetty added, “You are in effect helping them to feed their kids.”
Douglas Holmes, president of UWC, which represents businesses on unemployment insurance and compensation issues, said his group was “not opposed to some further extension,” but cautioned against prolonging benefits too long or adding tax burdens on employers, who already face increases in state unemployment taxes.
The first 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, which average just over $300 a week, are paid by the states with money collected from employers. This year, as part of the stimulus act, Congress agreed to pay for an extra 34 to 53 weeks, depending on a state’s jobless rate. Then, in November, as large numbers started to exhaust that aid, Congress added another 14 to 20 weeks, bringing the potential total to 99 weeks in many states.
But without Congressional action, the extra federal aid will quickly wind down. People who lost their jobs after July 1 of this year, for example, would receive no federally paid extensions once their customary six months of state aid runs out. The extensions are provided in segments and those who are already receiving help in one stage, often awarded for 13 weeks, would finish that term but not receive additional weeks of aid they may have expected.
In January alone, without a renewal, benefits would halt for more than one million unemployed people, according to projections by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group and a co-sponsor of Monday’s press conference, based on data received from the states.
Ms. Vito, the Pennsylvania official, said her office had started receiving desperate calls from people whose health subsidies had just ended and who were unable to pay the full premiums themselves. Under federal Cobra provisions, a laid-off worker can retain his or her previous health insurance for up to 18 months by paying the full cost.
But many, without work, cannot afford the premiums. The federal government this year has paid 65 percent of the cost for up to nine months. Large numbers who started receiving the subsidy this year have used up their time, and since Dec. 1, the aid has not been available for the newly unemployed.
For the average worker with a family plan, the premiums required under Cobra add up to nearly as much as unemployment benefits, according to Families USA, a group advocating health care reform.
Also participating in Monday’s call for action were officials of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Women’s Law Center. State officials from Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New York and Washington joined in the plea for Congress to act.
Full Link at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/us/08unemploy.html
Friday, December 04, 2009
Don Ingram - Tennessee Department of Labor Explains Reasons Benefits Are Delayed.
This is a clip from News Channel 5 with Don Ingram, Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Admin, explaining the cause for delay about the latest unemployment extension and answering call in questions about the matter. Although each state is having to deal with different circumstances, the common reason for the delays are all related to the process of implementation and the high amounts of claims the departments are having to process. Mr. Ingram explains that claims are up 120% and at one point in the video states that the department simply was not designed to handle the number of claims which are being received.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Tennessee Department of Labor Explains Preliminary Details
The following information is a post written by Mr. John Partlow, Tennessee Department of Labor. Hopefully, this information gives Tennesseans an idea of what to expect in the coming weeks regarding the latest unemployment extension signed into law on November 6th, 2009 by President Barack Obama.
Here is the information he has provided:
"Like we posted on our website, the letters are scheduled to go out December 7th and 8th. The letters will go out only to those who have exhausted all of their entitlement and aren’t drawing anymore. The letters will instruct you to go to our website on December 11 to file the application. Those that are currently receiving unemployment should transition from EB into EUC Tier 3 or from EUC Tier 2 into EUC Tier 3, depending upon what they are currently receiving.
Hopefully, the checks will start to be mailed the following week after Friday, December 11. Once I know more about the specific day, I will let you know. There is a massive check run on Sunday night and Monday night for TUC payments and then a massive check run on Tuesday night for EUC Tier 1 and 2 payments, then a check run on Wednesday night for EB, so most likely, the EUC Tier 3 and 4 checks will be a Thursday night check run.
So, more than likely, the first checks for EUC Tier 3 will be issued on December 17.
This means that if you applied on December 11, you should be issued lump sum payment that covers the weeks of:
11-14
11-21
11-28
12-5
and possibly 12-12
Then you would start certifying weekly. I believe that the day we are going to assign for EUC Tier 3 and 4 to certify will be Thursday. Its my understanding that you will be able to certify through TIPS or online. The days for certifications will be:
Sundays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an even number
Mondays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an odd number
Tuesdays – EUC Tiers 1 & 2
Wedensdays – EB
Thursdays – EUC Tiers 3 & 4 and makeup day for everyone
If you haven’t worked since you last certified for a week of benefits, your claim should quickly be approved. If you have worked somewhere, we will have to verify the separation with your most recent employer before you are approved. Also, if you aren’t able and available for work or have some other individual circumstance that prevents you from working, that must be adjudicated as well before you can receive these benefits.
The work search requirement is not the same as EB. The tangible work searches are only for those receiving EB. EUC Tiers 3 & 4 go back to the state policy of work searches where you must register for work through the career centers (which everyone, I am sure, is already registered) and seek work using your customary means.
I hope this helps everyone understand what to expect in the next week or so."
Here is the information he has provided:
"Like we posted on our website, the letters are scheduled to go out December 7th and 8th. The letters will go out only to those who have exhausted all of their entitlement and aren’t drawing anymore. The letters will instruct you to go to our website on December 11 to file the application. Those that are currently receiving unemployment should transition from EB into EUC Tier 3 or from EUC Tier 2 into EUC Tier 3, depending upon what they are currently receiving.
Hopefully, the checks will start to be mailed the following week after Friday, December 11. Once I know more about the specific day, I will let you know. There is a massive check run on Sunday night and Monday night for TUC payments and then a massive check run on Tuesday night for EUC Tier 1 and 2 payments, then a check run on Wednesday night for EB, so most likely, the EUC Tier 3 and 4 checks will be a Thursday night check run.
So, more than likely, the first checks for EUC Tier 3 will be issued on December 17.
This means that if you applied on December 11, you should be issued lump sum payment that covers the weeks of:
11-14
11-21
11-28
12-5
and possibly 12-12
Then you would start certifying weekly. I believe that the day we are going to assign for EUC Tier 3 and 4 to certify will be Thursday. Its my understanding that you will be able to certify through TIPS or online. The days for certifications will be:
Sundays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an even number
Mondays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an odd number
Tuesdays – EUC Tiers 1 & 2
Wedensdays – EB
Thursdays – EUC Tiers 3 & 4 and makeup day for everyone
If you haven’t worked since you last certified for a week of benefits, your claim should quickly be approved. If you have worked somewhere, we will have to verify the separation with your most recent employer before you are approved. Also, if you aren’t able and available for work or have some other individual circumstance that prevents you from working, that must be adjudicated as well before you can receive these benefits.
The work search requirement is not the same as EB. The tangible work searches are only for those receiving EB. EUC Tiers 3 & 4 go back to the state policy of work searches where you must register for work through the career centers (which everyone, I am sure, is already registered) and seek work using your customary means.
I hope this helps everyone understand what to expect in the next week or so."
Kentucky now accepting claims for extended unemployment benefits.
Eligible claimants can file online at www.oet.ky.gov.
The state said in a news release that the nearly 10,000 Kentuckians who have used all 79 weeks of unemployment benefits may be eligible for payments retroactive to Nov. 8. A link will be available in the online application by the end of this week to allow requests for retroactive payments.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tennessee Residents - November Unemployment Insurance Benefits Extension
The Tennessee Department of Labor has stated that applications to apply for the latest unemployment insurance extension may do so online on December 11, 2009. If you have exhausted your benefits and qualify for this extension, you will be sent a letter in the mail within the next week which will include a monetary determination and instructions for the application process. Those who are currently getting unemployment insurance should automatically transition into this latest extension, if needed.
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