Norton's Priority on Senate Passage of Unemployment Extension Passed by House Today (7/1/2010)

Norton's Priority On Senate Passage of Unemployment Extension Passed by House Today

July 1, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) who championed the unemployment extension bill passed by the House today, called on her Senate colleagues to pass, H.R. 5618, the Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act today "without further unconscionable delay."

The bill will provide emergency unemployment insurance (UI) benefits through November 30, 2010 and retroactively restore benefits to people who may have started losing their unemployment compensation in May.

"More than 5,200 District residents who are receiving unemployment are poised to lose their benefits by July 3, because Republicans in the Senate have prevented the unemployment extension from passing," Norton said. "Even in mild economic downturn, we have always been able to pass unemployment extensions. This money is for desperate Americans, for whom there are no jobs because of the depth and length of the recession, and this money is immediately stimulative because unemployment insurance is spent as soon as it is received. It is simply outrageous to deny people money for the basic necessities of life on the theory that this will help bring down the deficit. By repeatedly failing to extend unemployment insurance, the Senate is knowingly leading the country into a double deep recession."

H.R. 5618 also extends the federal home buyer tax credit deadline to September 30, giving homebuyers more time to close on home purchases and still qualify for the credit.

"Stopping this measure along with unemployment insurance," Norton said, "is tantamount to giving up on the recession in the midst of a recovery." Norton said that her energy next week will go to helping to break the lock-out on these important bills in the Senate.