Senator Feinstein and 42 Senate Democrats urge Republican Leaders to Work with them to Extend Unemployment Insurance



	Senator Feinstein and 42 Senate Democrats urge Republican Leaders to Work with them to Extend Unemployment Insurance November 20, 2002 printer version Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and 42 of her Senate colleagues today urged top House and Senate Republican leaders to work with them to extend unemployment insurance for the 2 million Americans who have lost their jobs and exhausted their unemployment benefits. In their letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, the Senators wrote: "We would like to express our deep concern that Congress will likely adjourn this year without addressing the needs of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs. As you are aware, the House and the Senate have passed widely divergent bills to extend unemployment insurance, without taking steps to forge compromise legislation which could be sent to the President for his signature. As a result, we must expect that the previous extension of unemployment benefits, which was agreed to this summer, will expire on December 28^th and leave two million Americans without adequate resources to provide for their families while they seek work. Rather than enjoying a small measure of economic security during the holiday season, those people who lose their benefits will spend Thanksgiving and Christmas wondering where they will find the money to pay for basic necessities. Hopeful job applicants, who must already contend with a job market that provides less than one opening for every two unemployed applicants, would find themselves in the impossible situation of searching for a new job while they wonder how to keep a roof over their head. The record shows that during major economic downturns both Republicans and Democrats have consistently voted to extend benefits. During the first Bush Administration the Senate voted on five separate occasions to extend unemployment insurance, each time with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. We would hope that we can work together to ensure that this crisis is averted. If Congress is not able to address this issue by the end of the year, we would ask that an extension of unemployment insurance be added to the first available legislative vehicle in the 108^th Congress. Prompt action will minimize the disruption to those who have already lost their benefits, and will take effect before thousands of others have used up their existing benefits." In addition to Senator Feinstein, the letter was signed by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Joe Biden (D-DE), Carl Levin (D-MI), John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT), Harry Reid (D-NV), Blanche L. Lincoln (D-AR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Dean Barkley (I-MN), Russell D. Feingold (D-WI), Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Mark Dayton (D-MN), Jean Carnahan (D-MO), Max Baucus (D-MT), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), John B. Breaux (D-LA), John Edwards (D-NC), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), James M. Jeffords (I-VT), Bob Graham (D-FL), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Paul S. Sarbanes (D-MD), Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Max Cleland (D-GA), John F. Kerry (D-MA) and Bill Nelson (D-FL). ###