Unemployment News: Millions Still Waiting For Assistance From Congress

It isn’t difficult to see the unemployment news for America is not good. It is terrible and getting worse by the day. Millions of Americans are still waiting for assistance from Congress.

Unfortunately, those in Washington only care about the upcoming election, while the devastated long term unemployed are wondering how they will survive until help arrives. Too bad everyone running for office in the midterms isn’t forced to live in one of the tent cities depicted below (see all 3 videos) until Tier 5 is passed.

The post election unemployment nightmare is a great possibility. Is it to be or not to be - Your vote may decide. The following scenario is playing out all over the country and we just cannot afford to empower the Party of NO come November.

Hendry County (FL) - Sometimes the early birds arrive by 4 a.m. They line up in the dark, outside a beige, stucco building on East El Paso Avenue. By the time Hendry County (FL) social services opens, the queue can run 90 to 100 people deep – and they all need help.

Some can’t pay rent. Some are behind on utilities. Some can’t afford food. And just about every one of them is out of work.

“We have to prioritize,” said James Donald Coddington, the county’s social-services director. “We’re asking people questions like, Are your lights already turned off, or have you just gotten notice that they’re going to be turned off? ”

More on Florida’s highest unemployment rate. And please view the emotional videos below.

An Election Day Nightmare Foretold via IM (International Machinist Union)

How important is it to get out the vote this midterm election? Ponder this… Sen. Orrin “Drug Test the Unemployed” Hatch (R-UT) with jurisdictional control over unemployment insurance benefits, Social Security, Railroad Retirement, pensions, international trade and Trade Adjustment Assistance.

It could happen if Republicans gain control of the Senate on November 2, 2010.

Currently, Sen. Hatch is the senior minority member of the Senate Finance committee, which oversees a significant amount of programs aimed at assisting the jobless and America’s working class. If the GOP gains enough seats, Hatch, as seen in

UCubed’s Bite Back ad

suggesting the jobless should be required to take drug tests before receiving unemployment benefits – could become the committee chair. With his new post could come an end to many of our nation’s important safety-net policies and programs.

“We should not be giving cash to people who basically are just going to go blow it on drugs,” said Sen. Hatch as he and his fellow GOP Senators repeatedly blocked unemployment insurance benefits for millions of unemployed Americans this past summer.

“It is extremely imperative that voters – particularly jobless voters – show up at the polls this election day,” says IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “We must not give power back to those responsible for this economic crisis, and those who heartlessly turn their backs on Americans who need them the most. We have the power to win on November 2nd. Tell everyone – family, friends, neighbors, etc. – to get out and vote.”

With not enough money to fund UI extensions as is, it is very doubtful that Congress would authorize the extra millions of dollars it would take to fund any program requiring recipients of UI to be tested for drugs anyway.

As All247 News put it recently:

The U.S. Congress has an enormous amount of unfinished business when they do return to Washington after the election; passing a budget fo the U.S. Government which has to be passed by December 3 to avoid a government shutdown, legislation on extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, possibly a vote to give Social Security recipients a one time payment of $250 in 2011, and of course, unemployment insurance legislation to name but a few. Each of these initiatives could take weeks to make their way through the U.S. Congress, time that simply does not exist. Therefore to get what many members of the House and Senate are calling “must have” legislation passed, it is clear that both sides will have to bring to the table a greater willingness to compromise. In effect, a compromise that would have been considered unacceptable before the mid-term elections may well be much more possible after the midterms.

While some have suggested that will be no action on unemployment insurance during the midterms, and this may happen, it is clear that the Democratic leadership and a few moderate Republicans recognize that reauthorization of the current levels of unemployment insurance and a Tier V should be enacted during the lame duck. It should also be noted that those that are predicting as a certainty that unemployment legislation will pass in the lame duck session are probably being overconfident. It will be a battle. However, the passage of renewal of the current federal extension and a Tier V between now and the end of the year is possible and more important, desperately needed in millions of households across the nation as winter (not to say the Holidays) approach.

The state of the economy always has a significant impact on national elections, and this year Republicans appear to be benefiting from voter concerns that the U.S. economy is still trying to recover from a recession. The weak economic outlook has shaped a public mindset that took hold months ago.

Why would the Republicans benefit? By destroying the economy to begin with and blocking every step Congress has attempted to make to correct the problem - the Republicans should be the most hated bunch of losers in the world - but money buys you a great deal of clever ads and Americans seem to take in that hog wash, hook line and sinker.

Are we that lazy or do we just spend more time and effort in choosing what to TIVO than who we vote for? Educated, sane voters (even angry ones) are the best defense against voting in more losers.

The following is a guest post from fellow 99er advocate Eric King. He really nails it:

The "99ers" are an understandably angry, afraid, and frustrated group. Their UI benefits have long expired, and they've had to drain 401ks, kid's college funds, and personal savings, in an effort to simply survive...and those are the lucky ones. Job searches have proven as fruitless as chasing unicorns, and become more difficult each day they're out of the workforce.

Yet, even as they think they're seeing their American dream fade, they have shown us all what is right with the American spirit. They have used their networks, voices, and time to win UI extensions for the millions more recently unemployed (also benefitting the US economy at large), only to be left out in the cold themselves by Congress time and again. Everyone still collecting a UI extension is in their debt.

Understandably, many "99ers" have thrown up their hands and said "enough is enough," and plan to voice this anger, fear, and frustration by staying on the sidelines for this fall's election.

However, now is not the time for apathy. No fight has ever been won by giving it up; and there may be no fight bigger for jobs, benefits, and the entire economy than on November 2nd. True, Democrats haven't gone far enough in almost anything they've done. It's also true that Republicans aren't concerned with you at all, but "fiscal responsibility." A key part of that tired GOP slogan is "entitlement reform," which in plain English means putting Social Security in the hands of Wall Street and slashing programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS. Simply put, Republicans win and we all lose.

Turnout is going to win this election. The same companies that turned us out to protect their bottom lines have spent millions, not creating new jobs, but on this election trying to buy back the Congress, and it's given the Republicans a huge lead. Obviously, simply voting won't win extra tiers, but not voting surely loses them. Withholding your vote doesn't teach the Democrats a lesson, it teaches Republicans that if they ignore you, you’ll eventually go away.

On November 2nd, we ALL need to show them that we are NOT going away.

As you view the following videos, do not kid yourselves into thinking that these are drug addicts who chose their addiction over a more secure life. Do not for one minute think that these folks chose to be in this situation. These are ordinary, main street Americans who have been the victims of those who corrupted the banking system, gambled with our money on Wall Street and have for the most part been ignored or even lambasted by unfeeling politicians (mostly Republicannots). These people are just like us but far more unfortunate than most reading this blog.

These are the Americans who need to be bailed out from what corporate greed, political corruption and Washington indifference has done to America. Watch them and weep! Then vote out those responsible.