Extend Emergency Unemployment Benefits

A message from CREDO Action:  We're still in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Jobs are scarce, and unemployment is still sky-high.

But Congress is mired in negotiations about extending emergency federal unemployment insurance, which is set to expire at the end of the month.

Never before has it been controversial to extend this vital lifeline to hardworking Americans who are struggling to find work.

Yet in a remarkably cruel and shortsighted move, some in Congress are trying to prevent an extension to the program unless benefits are scaled back or absurd restrictions are added to the program.

We need to make sure Congress doesn't cut a deal that undermines unemployment insurance as a sop to the heartless legislators who want to cut it.

That is why we are joining with our friends at the AFL-CIO to show strong public support for fully extending emergency unemployment insurance, without cutting benefits or adding burdensome requirements on workers.

Tell Congress: Extend emergency unemployment benefits. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Unemployment insurance is a vital part of the social safety net.

Recent census figures show that federal unemployment insurance helped keep nearly three million Americans from falling into poverty in 2010 alone.

Congress has never cut back on federally funded unemployment insurance when unemployment was anywhere near this high for this long.

And for good reason.

The people who are out of work these days didn't create the economic crisis we're in — they're just among those most directly affected by it. If there was ever a time to help them stay afloat while they look for work, it's now.

We spent hundreds of billions bailing out the banks on Wall Street, but now that people on Main Street are suffering, we're told that we can't afford unemployment benefits. It's appalling, and we need to push back.

Tell Congress: Extend emergency unemployment benefits. Click below to automatically sign the petition:

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5533383&id=35076-2593817-WH7NMpx&t=9

Thank you for speaking out. Your activism matters.

Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets