Norton and Her State of the Union Guest Speak At Press Conference to Call for Revival of Unemployment Insurance
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today invited her guest for tonight's State of the Union address to accompany her to a press conference today, where members urged Congress to revive the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. Norton, like several other members, invited a resident of her district who lost unemployment insurance benefits when Congress failed to extend the program after it expired on December 28, 2013. Her guest, Mindy Hill, a 29-year-old District resident and graduate of the University of the District of Columbia, like many young people in this city, has worked for government contractors. She has worked as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
"Like 1.6 million Americans – and counting – Mindy Hill has been left out in the cold by Republicans blocking an unemployment insurance extension," said Norton. "In penalizing Mindy, Republicans also are indulging their penchant for slowing economic growth, as 240,000 other Americans, whose employment depends on the disposable income of the unemployed, stand to those their jobs."
Norton said that employers, faced with a surplus of workers, have shown an unfair preference for hiring the most recently unemployed, consigning even young long-term unemployed workers, like Mindy Hill, to even longer term unemployment regardless of skill. Norton said that she was proud that the District in 2012 passed legislation prohibiting employment discrimination based on unemployment history, and that similar legislation is pending in a number of states. However, she said as important as this remedy is, it is a remedy for discrimination, not a job. Last month, just before the unemployment insurance program expired, Norton introduced a bill to offer employers a $5,000 tax credit against the payroll tax liability for each new net person hired who has been unemployed for 27 weeks. "It is now clear that these fights for unemployment insurance are not enough," said Norton. The $5,000 tax credit incentive would encourage employers to look twice at the long-term unemployed.
Published: January 28, 2014