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House Passes Economic Recovery Package – Extends Unemployment Benefits
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) September 26, 2008
WASHINGTON – Today the House of Representatives
passed bipartisan legislation to boost the American economy, create jobs, and
help provide additional relief to families who are struggling during the
economic downturn. The legislation, H.R.
7110, the Job Creation and Unemployment Relief Act, includes economic
recovery incentives including a nationwide extension of unemployment benefits
championed by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and
Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Jim
McDermott (D-WA).
“While
Congress negotiates legislation to stabilize Wall Street, we must remember our
commitment to families on Main Street who are struggling to find jobs or put food
on their tables,” said Chairman
Rangel. “This bill would provide a nationwide extension of unemployment benefits
to the hundreds of thousands of workers who will exhaust their benefits before
the end of this year. Our economy has
shed jobs every single month this year, more than 600,000 in total, and this
bill helps ease the pain of those who have lost their job while also helping to
create new opportunity for work and job training.”
Subcommittee Chairman McDermott said: “For the last seven days we have
been talking about Wall Street; it is time to turn our attention to Main Street-to all
the decent, hard working Americans who played by the rules, but lost their jobs
through no fault of their own.”
The economic recovery bill would:
·
Extend
unemployment benefits for the growing number of Americans looking for work
(please click
here for more information on the provision);
·
Grow
our economy and create jobs through investment in our nation’s infrastructure;
·
Help
ensure families don’t go hungry with Food Stamp assistance; and
·
Ensure
Americans do not lose health coverage as a result of state budget crises.
ADDRESSING NEEDS IN TOUGH TIMES
Extension of Unemployment Benefits: Provides an additional 7 weeks of
extended benefits for workers who have exhausted regular unemployment
compensation (20 total weeks). Workers in high unemployment states are
eligible for an additional 13 weeks of benefits (33 total weeks).
Extending unemployment benefits is one of the quickest, most cost-effective
forms of economic stimulus because workers who have lost their paychecks spend
benefits quickly.
Medicaid Assistance: Provides a temporary increase in the
Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid health costs, with
increases from one to four percent, at a time of increasing enrollment.
These funds will prevent cuts to health insurance and health care services for
low-income children and families, as well as generate business activities,
jobs, wages and State sales tax revenues that States would otherwise not
see.
Food Assistance: $2.6 billion to address rising food
costs for seniors, people with disabilities and very poor families with
children. This year, an average of 27.8 million individuals, and 12.5
million households, received food stamps.
Job Training: $500 million to help
Americans find and prepare for good jobs including $400 million is for
dislocated worker and youth employment activities and $100 million to provide customized help
to folks receiving unemployment benefits. Unemployment claims have
increased by over 38% this year and 36% exhaust their benefits before finding
work.
INFRASTRUCTURE
In order to have an immediate effect on
the economy, investments are made in infrastructure projects that can start
fast, meet existing needs, and create jobs. These projects provide short
term benefit by putting people to work and buying goods, but leave behind long
term infrastructure improvements that will benefit Americans for years to come.
Highway Infrastructure: $12.8 billion, for our nation’s aging
highways and bridges, to improve safety and reduce traffic congestion.
Corps of Engineers: $5 billion to invest in the nation’s
water resource infrastructure with improved flood protection, navigation and
hydropower and to increase the efficiency of existing water infrastructure.
Fixing Crumbling Schools: $3 billion to repair crumbling schools,
provide students with first class technology, and to improve energy
efficiency. One-third of public school buildings need extensive repair or
total replacement and two-thirds have environmental problems unhealthy for
children.
Clean Water: $7.5 billion for drinking water and
sewer projects including $6.5 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
and $1 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to repair,
rehabilitate and expand water systems, many of which are over 50 years old and
$300 million for Bureau of Reclamation water projects, including $98 million to
provide clean, reliable drinking water to rural areas and $126 million to
ensure adequate water supply to western localities impacted by drought.
Transit: $3.6 billion to purchase buses and
equipment needed to expand public transportation and to make improvements to
facilities and $1 billion to meet growing demand for public transportation due
to higher gas prices while reducing American gasoline consumption. Rising
fuel costs have some transit agencies facing service reductions or fare
increases.
Airport Improvement Grants: $600 million, for projects to improve
safety and reduce delays at our nation’s airports.
AMTRAK: $500 million, to make necessary
upgrades to tracks and stations so that Amtrak can meet growing demand due to
high gas prices. This year ridership has increased by 8 percent on the
Northeast Corridor and 13 percent on other corridor routes.
Public Housing: $1 billion for repair and construction
projects, including critical safety repairs. Every dollar of Capital Fund
expenditures produces $2.12 in economic return.
ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
Advanced Battery Technology Loans: $1 billion to support $3.3 billion in
loans to encourage the manufacture of advanced vehicle batteries and battery
systems – a key component to fuel efficient cars - in the United States.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: $500 million to accelerate the
development of technologies that will contribute to a reliable, domestic energy
supply.
Electricity Delivery and Energy
Reliability: $100
million to modernize the electric grid, make energy infrastructure more secure
and reliable, and speed recovery from disruptions to the energy supply.
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