Rep. Schneider Pushes for Immediate Vote on Senate-Passed Unemployment Insurance Deal

Press Release

U.S. Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) called for an immediate vote in the House on unemployment insurance following today's passage of a bipartisan unemployment insurance extension in the Senate.

Rep. Schneider is helping lead the effort in the House to extend unemployment insurance, introducing a discharge petition to end the gridlock and force Speaker Boehner to allow the House to vote on an unemployment insurance bill.

"The House should take immediate action on the Senate's bipartisan compromise to extend unemployment," Schneider said. "I respect my colleagues' right to disagree, but not even holding a vote is unacceptable. Failing to extend this critical lifeline hurts our communities, hurts our families and hurts our economic recovery. More than 2 million Americans, including more than 150,000 in Illinois, deserve better than this partisan gridlock."

Rep. Schneider has been active in calling for an immediate vote on unemployment insurance. Rep. Schneider and 48 of his freshman colleagues sent a letter to Speaker Boehner demanding that he call an immediate vote to extend unemployment insurance. In January, he hosted a roundtable discussion to hear directly from constituents who recently lost their unemployment insurance.

On Dec. 28th, critical unemployment insurance lapsed for 1.3 million Americans, including more than 80,000 people in Illinois. The number of people who have lost unemployment insurance has now risen to 2 million people, with an average of 72,000 people losing their insurance each week.

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