HR 6091 Tier 5 Bill for the 99ers - does not pass the Laugh Test

HR 6091 Tier 5 Bill for the 99ers - does not pass the laugh test. Then again, millions of unemployed Americans without UI payments going on 8 months (with no jobs in sight) is no laughing matter.

Earlier this month, Rep. Jim McDermott cosponsored legislation to create a 5th tier of Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in states with high unemployment. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and would add an additional 20 weeks of benefits for states with unemployment rates of 10 percent or higher.

“Right now, there are more long-term jobless Americans than we’ve ever had on record, and we can’t just let them all fall off a cliff,” Rep. McDermott said. “I don’t believe how we can cut and run from helping unemployed workers when there are five of them competing for every available job. You only have to hear from a few unemployed workers to know how hard they are looking for work and to feel their sheer sense of desperation. Are we really prepared to just stand by and watch them sink into abject poverty?”



The economy would have to create nearly 10 million new jobs to return to its pre-recession level, which would take about five years of consistent, month-after-month job growth. While the country has seen job growth in every month this year, the unemployment rate remains at almost 10 percent, and many economists predict that it will remain high for the foreseeable future. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office projects the unemployment rate to average 9.5% next year.

“The Bush administration and Congressional Republicans presided over the implosion of the housing market and world economic collapse, and handed us the worst economy in 70 years,” opined Rep. McDermott. “Ending assistance to the long-term unemployed will reduce consumer demand right at the point when the economy is struggling to get back on its feet. It will surely increase the number of homes going into foreclosure. And it will drive some individuals permanently out of the labor force. All of these outcomes will increase our nation’s budget deficit. But even worse, they will bring about a crippling deficit of hope for the future.”


With Stabenow's bill S. 3706, the Berkely bill's best use would be as a Tier 6 in addition to the Tier 5 legislation proposed by Stabenow. The 10% unemployment rate in the Berkely/McDermott bill would only cover 16 states plus the District of Columbia. That is completely insane, and not what America needs now.

What needs to happen to the Americans Want to Work Act is that it must be extended to cover all states (as written now it excludes 16 states from the 20 week extension). Then we need to add the Berkely - McDermott bill on top of that to give the states who are hurting the worst extra weeks, much like the Tiers 3 & 4 did last fall. This would make far more sense than the Berkely/McDermott bill alone. Only the 10% UI threshold seems way too high to be of real service to millions of hurting Americans.

Hopefully, while in the midst of the latest Tier of UI benefits, Congress can pass a real effective Get America Working Again bill, much the scale and scope that Roosevelt did in 1939. These are serious times indeed and we all really want to earn our own living, rather than to lobby heartless legislators every few months while the jobs creep back, a few thousand at a time.

Exactly who do the House members who introducing HR 6091 think the 99ers are? Most 99ers understand that Republicans taking the majority in the House and/or the Senate is a very bad idea. Ms Berkely blew her chance to help the 99ers weeks ago and chose not to take on "too hard of a fight", when there was still time to fight hard for legislation that would help the 99er Nation. She did not step up for millions of 99ers and they likely will not help her keep her seat in November. In fact, the smart money says 99ers will be working feverishly to oust her from Congress. This bill is nothing but another ploy to make it look like lawmakers are doing something to help America, while all they really are doing is trying to do is save their seats in November.

Instead of helping the 99er Nation, by introducing this legislation, it may well cost all 99ers more valuable time. Time they do not have. What part of unemployment being a national emergency do they not understand?

Let's say that the Senate passes the Stabenow bill, then sends it to the House. Will the House waste more precious weeks of 99er time trying to reconcile the McDermott/Berkely bill with S 3706? No thank you. We saw that on March 10, 2010, HR 4213 passed the Senate. The House did not act with any sense of urgency with their attempts to reconcile that bill with their own, waiting until the end of May to pass their version. This is not the time to squander more lives of 99er families by wasting precious time.

To date, most 99ers are struggling through their 8th month with no benefits. We all know the jobs are not out there, so what exactly are the long term unemployed to do? If you really care about the longest term unemployed in America and not just grandstanding, then either redo HR 6091 so that it can be a Tier 6 on top of the Stabenow Tier 5 or simply kill that bill.

In short, HR 6091 Tier 5 Bill for the 99ers - does not pass the Laugh Test. Only, there is nothing funny about millions of Americans forced into abject poverty, from which many may never again escape.