Unemployment Insurance and Poverty
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, co-chair of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus,
voted against the recent extension of unemployment benefits because it
shortened the maximum number of weeks a jobless worker could qualify.
“Instead of scaling back unemployment benefits we need to be adding
weeks to help people get by when there continues to be four workers in
line for each job,” said Lee.
She makes a hell of a point.
While most of the media have focused on the Democrats “pretty much
getting what they wanted,” it has given short shrift to what this deal
means for the long-term unemployed, currently at near-record levels, with 43 percent of unemployed people jobless for more than six months.
