Tag Archives: Congress

Under federal law, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program shuts off at the end of December. We cannot pay EUC benefits for any weeks after December 23-29, even if you have money remaining in your account.

If Congress votes to continue the program, we will automatically notify everyone who claimed EUC for one or more weeks in December.

We have posted some questions and answers on our website with additional information. You also may contact the EUC claims center at 877-558-8509 (toll-free) with questions about your claim.

If you need help finding a job, we strongly encourage you to contact WorkSource for assistance. WorkSource offers free workshops, job counseling, computers, Internet access, phones and other job-search resources aimed at helping you return to work.

If you need help with housing, food, medical care or other essentials, please dial 2-1-1 or visit www.211.org.

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Send a clear message now: “No help for the jobless? No vacation for Congress!” AFL-CIO

12/13/2011 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

Chris from South Carolina used to work in an unemployment office. Then he was laid off. Here’s his warning:
You should know that Congress has let the emergency benefits lapse several times in the past few years and always when a break is scheduled for them. It happened last Easter and last Christmas. They don’t care about the unemployed. They take their holiday break and deal with it when they return to Washington.
We can’t assume Congress will renew unemployment in time for the millions who are hanging by a thread before extended benefits expire Dec. 31. That’s why we’re pulling out all the stops. More than 2,000 jobless workers, activists and clergy are on Capitol Hill, right now—demanding a clean and immediate extension of emergency unemployment benefits. Thousands more are in district offices across the country.

As we gather on Capitol Hill and at district offices, activists across the country are flooding Congress with messages.

Add your voice: Help make sure the voices of America’s jobless can’t be ignored by Congress. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=NNlhbPw0buvN0Kq3T7aq%2F2C84X%2BQ3emC

Diane from Michigan worked in the newspaper industry and is now unemployed. Here’s how she describes her situation:

Every job opening has hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants. It is almost impossible to get a job—especially if you also face age discrimination. Retraining is too costly. Meanwhile, we are hanging on by a thread. No health insurance….My current unemployment benefits are the only thing saving me from the street. I have faced food insecurity for the first time.

We must not let people like Diane be forgotten.

Make Congress hear the stories and see the faces of jobless workers. Contact Congress now and demand an immediate, clean extension of emergency unemployment benefits.

Momentum is building—but we can’t take the passage of emergency unemployment aid for granted.

Obstructionists like House Speaker John Boehner—who has nearly absolute control over what comes up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives—continue to block a clean, immediate extension of emergency jobless aid. There’s no excuse for that. Especially when our economy is so bad and budget cuts in our communities are so dire.

Chris, a now unemployed unemployment office worker, asks a powerful question: “Don’t they realize they work for us?”

Tell Congress: “You work for us. Renew emergency unemployment aid now.”

Will obstructionists like Speaker Boehner really let benefits lapse yet again, take a vacation, come back and play partisan games?

Will the obstructionists let families get thrown out of their homes? Will they force kids to go hungry to extract cuts and concessions that hurt our most vulnerable people?

Send a clear message now: “No help for the jobless? No vacation for Congress!”

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. Our unemployment stories website has been covered by the media in publications lawmakers read while in Washington, D.C., including The Washington Post and The Hill—plus papers they read at home.

But we need your help to make sure every lawmaker feels the heat and sees these stories. Take action now.

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The Untold Story … Horne of Africa

12/13/2011 Nativegrl77

The recent images of men, women and children starving in the Horn of Africa tell a painful story of famine and suffering. How does a nation recover from a devastating food crisis? To find out, Chip Duncan and Salim Amin returned to a Ethiopia, to a place where famine caused a massive death toll over 25 years ago. What they discovered was surprising and hopeful. In partnership with One, they created a documentary showing the contrast between 1984 and present-day Tigray. Read their words below, view a preview and watch their powerful short film. << click on link for VIDEO

In Somalia, innocent people are dying needless deaths due to a famine driven by politics and war. Those who are dying need our help and our voice.

Drought is a challenge faced by people around the world. Climate change is now making droughts more common and less predictable. But drought shouldn’t equal famine. Famine is the outcome of poor infrastructure, corrupt governments and warring factions who choose to use food as a weapon.

During our recent work in Ethiopia, we had a chance to revisit the site of the 1984 famine. Our film uses footage and stills from that famine to remind us of the suffering and of its causes. Our story also chronicles the policies and infrastructure put in place during the last two decades to build sustainable agriculture. Water retention systems, irrigation, improved transportation systems, terraced farming, training programs, improved seeds and fertilizers – this is the new legacy in Tigray Province. It’s a story worth sharing so people everywhere can promote small scale agriculture while motivating governments to make similar investments in the future.

Chip Duncan
Director, “The Untold Story”

I made a journey following the footsteps of my father from 25 years ago. When Mohamed Amin made that journey a quarter of a century ago, he never imagined it was one that would change his life forever. He had covered every major story in Africa over four decades, but nothing prepared him for what he saw in Korem in October 1984.

A famine of biblical proportions, with more than 5 million people on the verge of starvation. A famine that was, to a large extent, man-made. The ruler of Ethiopia at the time, Colonel Haile Mariam Mengistu, was using the famine as a tool to suppress the rebel movement that was rising against his brutal regime from the north of the country. He didn’t want the world to know this famine existed.

The pictures that my father shot on the plains of Korem changed his life and changed the world. They prompted the greatest single act of charity of the 20th century and saved the lives of millions of Ethiopians. After this story, he changed the way he looked at news coverage. He cared for the first time in his life and did everything he could to keep the story in the headlines. Those images were amongst the most powerful and iconic images in television history.

I was expecting to see Korem still reeling from the effects of that massive famine. It takes generations to repair that kind of damage, but I was in for a shock. I went in with the best TV production team I had ever worked with, and what we saw stunned us all! A massive drought is taking hold of the Horn of Africa once again, but Korem and Tigray Province is an oasis of crops. Irrigation schemes that have been put in place over the last decade. There’s also a new awareness of the types of crops to grow and how to market and sell them for the best prices; and new resilient seeds have all transformed a community from being “takers” to being “providers”.

The farmers of Tigray Province have proved that drought doesn’t have to equal famine, and smart aid can work.

Salim Amin
Chairman Camerapix/A24 Media

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Pell Grants help millions of Black students access higher education … by Matt Nelson, ColorOfChange.org

12/12/2011 Nativegrl77

Tell Congress to stand up for educational opportunity:

Black families across the U.S. are finding it harder to pay the rapidly-increasing costs of higher education, and now some members of Congress are trying to dramatically cut the Pell Grant program — a lifeline that makes college possible for more than 9 million low-income students each year.1

The Republican-led proposal would put educational access and advancement out of reach for millions of prospective Black students. $900 million in cuts would mean dumping 1 million students from the program within the next five years — half of whom could be kicked out before the end of this school year. The plan would also shrink the size of the award for many current recipients.2

The entire 2012 budget is under negotiation and Congress must vote by next Friday to avoid a potential government shut down. This debate is about funding priorities, and important programs like Pell will be cut unless enough members of Congress stand up to support education. Our elected officials should be working to expand opportunities for economic growth, not decimating higher education programs that help put low-income students and students of color in good jobs. Please call on members of the House of Representatives, where Republicans pose the biggest threat to Pell Grants, to vote down any attempts to cut or restrict the program:

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/PellFunding

Tuition and fees at colleges and universities continue to skyrocket, increasing more than 400% since 1982 — more than 4 times the rate of inflation.3 Access to a good education dramatically increases a person’s chances for solid employment and pay. Young adults with a college degree are nearly 3 times more likely to be employed, and earn almost twice as much as those with just a high school diploma.

Defunding Pell Grants will hit Black and low-income students the hardest. Nearly half of Black undergraduates rely on Pell Grants to attend school, and families with incomes below $40,000 constitute 90% of awardees.4 Republicans have used racially-charged language as part of their attack on Pell. One Congressman called Pell “the welfare of the 21st century.”5

Of course, Pell isn’t welfare. In fact, the average grant size is much less likely to cover a sizable amount of college tuition costs than when the program began 40 years ago. Back then, Pell covered 100% of the average cost of tuition while today’s maximum Pell award generally covers one-third.6

Pell Grants are a cornerstone of our nation’s student aid program and greatly influence the makeup of our nation’s colleges and universities, providing much-needed racial and economic diversity within the overall student population. Tell Congress to fund higher education, and when you do, ask your friends and family to do the same.

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/PellFunding

Thanks and Peace,

— Rashad, James, Gabriel, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
December 10th, 2011

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

http://www.colorofchange.org/donate

References

1. “House Budget Committee Is Searching for Excuses to Cut Pell Grants,” Center for American Progress, 11-15-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1070?akid=2320.1174326.5nh0Fe&t=7

2. “Fight for Social Programs Looms Anew in the House,” New York Times, 10-03-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1071?akid=2320.1174326.5nh0Fe&t=9

3. “Is college still worth the price?” CNN Money, 04-13-2009
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1073?akid=2320.1174326.5nh0Fe&t=11

4. “Pell Grants: The Cornerstone of African-American Higher Education,” Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1072?akid=2320.1174326.5nh0Fe&t=13

5. “Rep. Denny Rehberg: Pell Grants Are Becoming ‘The Welfare Of The 21st Century’,” Huffington Post, 04-01-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1074?akid=2320.1174326.5nh0Fe&t=15

6. “Infographic: A History of the Shrinking Pell Grant,” Campus Progress, 05-23-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1075?akid=2320.1174326.5nh0Fe&t=17

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Unemployment Insurance – Share Your Story

12/09/2011 Nativegrl77

Unemployment Insurance – Share Your Story

Unemployment benefits are a vital lifeline for many Washington workers who are jobless through no fault of their own. These programs help them continue to put food on their table, gas in their car, and pay their bills while they look for work.

Federal unemployment programs will begin to expire at the end of this year.

In fact, unless Congress acts to extend these vital benefits, approximately 100,000 Washington residents and more than two million Americans will be cut off from federal unemployment compensation by February 2012.

Over the coming weeks I will be pushing my colleagues in the Senate to work quickly to extend unemployment benefits before the end of the year.

But I need your help.

I consider it to be my job to be your voice in the Senate. So tell me your stories. Send me your pictures and your videos. Show me how inaction by Congress to extend these benefits would most impact your life.

While the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% in November, we’ve still got a lot of work to do to get our economy back on track. But I can promise you that it will be your stories and experiences that will guide me as I fight for workers in Washington state.

Your Story…

Have a photo or video that tells your story? Please share it by using this form.

Send an e-mail with your photo or video link to: yourstory@murray.senate.gov

You can also Tweet your photo to @PattyMurray using #extendUI.

Note: Selected stories, photos, or videos may be used by Senator Murray online or in her public remarks. We will include only your first name and hometown. Your full name and email will never be posted online or provided without your permission.

Their Story…

I have heard from so many workers across Washington state—and I know they aren’t looking for a hand-out, they just want their government to be there for them the way it was there for generations of workers before them. They are just looking for a hand up—some support so they can keep food on their families’ tables while looking for work, and the resources and tools they need to skill-up, train-up, and get back on the job. Here are a few of their stories:

“I got laid off my job in April 2011. My unemployment insurance will run out at the end of this year. Unless Congress acts swiftly, federal unemployment insurance programs will expire December 31, leaving me with no benefits starting January 2012. I have two small children, three and five years old. Due to my employment status, we have to tell them that we will only be able to give them one Christmas gift this year. We also had to tell them we couldn’t go see the “Disney on Ice” show because it was too expensive. Please renew the full federal Unemployment Insurance program through 2012 now! The benefit I get will help pay for our mortgage while my wife’s salary, who works for Macy’s, covers our day to day expenses – including providing for our children. I have been looking for a job for nine months now but there are not many jobs out there.”

– Jose Villanueva, Seattle

“I am writing to urge your support for an extension of the federal unemployment benefits. I am receiving these benefits right now and have enrolled in a special program to start my own business. Through the SEAP program, I have become my own job creator. These funds, along with my own savings, have allowed me to meet my expenses while starting my financial education business, Twight Financial Education. As a fee-only financial planner, I work with people who want to know more about how to handle and invest their money. Sometimes, we must work on getting them from paycheck to paycheck first. You know that while you have been in office, the financial world has become more complex, even as employee benefits have diminished. Without these UI benefits, I would not have been able to keep my business going. I have not yet made a profit, but expect to next year. I have momentum now and your support for these benefits is critical for me and many others.”

– Dana Twight, Seattle