Cohen: Bipartisan Senate Vote to Move Forward on Extending Unemployment Insurance "Good First Step"

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today issued the following statement after the Senate voted to begin consideration of a bipartisan three-month extension of unemployment insurance (S. 1845) on a vote of 60 to 37:

“Today’s vote to allow debate on extending unemployment insurance is a good first step for the millions of Americans looking for work,” said Congressman Cohen. “The unemployment insurance program is a vital economic lifeline for more than a million Americans—including more than 19,000 Tennesseans—numbers that will increase each week. Sadly, House Republican obstruction led to its expiration late last month. I’m glad that a bipartisan majority in the Senate recognized just how critical this program is to hardworking Americans trying to make ends meet for their families, and I hope that House Republican leadership finally allows us to vote to extend the unemployment insurance program. It’s the right thing to do.”

At the end of December, 1.3 million Americans lost unemployment insurance, including 19,500 unemployed Tennesseans, when the program expired. That number will continue to grow by 1,192 each week unless the program is extended, as more and more Tennessee residents lose the benefits they rely on to keep afloat while looking for work.

The federal unemployment insurance program – formally called Emergency Unemployment Compensation – took effect in 2008 and was signed by President George W. Bush and has been reauthorized several times as the economy continues to recover. Despite the real progress the economy has made since its near collapse in 2008, there are still over 1 million fewer jobs than there were before the recession and more than 4 million Americans have been out of work for six months or longer. On average, nationwide, the program provides about $300 a week to recipients.

According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, failure to extend federal unemployment insurance also will hurt job growth locally and throughout the nation, costing the economy 240,000 jobs this year.