Wyden, Family Forward Oregon, Portland Mom, MomsRising Highlight Benefits of Supercharged Unemployment Insurance

Press Release

Ahead of the Senate Finance Committee hearing on the role of unemployment insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., hosted a press conference call with Family Forward Oregon executive director Andrea Paluso and workers such as Nicola Van Hoff of Portland to highlight the benefits of supercharged unemployment insurance for families nationwide.

Excerpts from their remarks from before the June 9 hearing follow:

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

"President Trump and Senate Republicans are declaring "mission accomplished' in response to Friday's jobs report. To be clear, this is not "mission accomplished.' The unemployment rate is still higher than it's been since the Great Depression.

"The jobs report last week told us that nearly 21 million Americans are currently unemployed. That number is even higher if you count workers who are temporarily out of work or who have dropped out of the labor force altogether. More than 40 million Americans have filed an unemployment claim in the past two months.

"While we gained two million jobs, many temporary furloughs are turning into permanent layoffs, and state and local governments are shedding jobs at an alarming rate. Now is not the time to take our foot off the gas. Millions of American families will experience unnecessary financial pain if supercharged unemployment benefits are allowed to expire.

"Even if millions of Americans go back to work, if millions of Americans lose their supercharged benefits and are abruptly unable to pay their bills, the economy will not rebound. Things will get worse and I fear that families will find themselves in increasingly dire straits. Congress cannot abandon families in the midst of this ongoing economic crisis."

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