Congressman Peters Speaks Out Against Failure Of Senate To Extend Unemployment Benefits

Press Release

The Senate failed today to extend emergency unemployment benefits despite the fact that the extended benefit program is set to expire Sunday, kicking hundreds of thousands of Americans off unemployment roles. An estimated 100,000 or more Michigan residents are set to exhaust unemployment insurance benefits in March without an extension, approximately 10,000 in Oakland County alone. 1.1 million are set to exhaust benefits nationwide. The Senate is not scheduled to reconvene until Tuesday.

"This failure is bad for many across the country, but it's especially hard on Michigan," said Congressman Peters. "My office has been flooded with calls from people who badly need this extension, and I've called many of them back to talk with them personally. I've spoken with parents who are trying hard but unable to find work and are struggling to keep their heads above water, and this could be the blow that sends them over the edge. The partisanship and dysfunction that led to this failure shows that the process in the Senate is truly broken."

Extended unemployment benefits, along with COBRA health insurance subsidies for the unemployed, are set to expire on Sunday. The House passed a six-month extension of these benefits in December but the Senate never acted on that extension. Earlier this week the House passed an extension through the end of March to give the Senate more time to act. In order to quickly pass the House bill without procedural hurdles, the Senate attempted to pass it through "unanimous consent" to send it to the president to sign by Sunday. However, one Senator, Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky, decided to object to unanimous consent, defeating the proposal.

The Senate stayed in session Thursday night to try to resolve this matter and, according the New York Times, Senator Bunning complained that led to him missing Kentucky's basketball game vs. South Carolina.

"I encourage everyone who cares about this issue to call Senator Jim Bunning," Congressman Peters said. "His phone number is 202-224-4343. Extending unemployment benefits is something that Congress has done every recession for the past several decades. It's wrong for Senator Bunning to block it while the job market is still slumping."

"Jim Bunning may have thrown a no-hitter for the Tigers, but the fact that he's now shutting out Michigan families when they need it most is unacceptable."

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