Garamendi Joins Effort to Require House Floor Vote on Unemployment Insurance
WASHINGTON, DC – After months of imploring the House Republican Leadership to allow a vote on an emergency unemployment insurance extension for two million Americans who have seen this vital lifeline expire, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA) signed onto a discharge petition that would require a vote on the House floor. When a majority of Congress Members sign on, the extension bill will be up for a vote. So far 158 Members have joined the effort.
“In my district, I’ve seen unemployed veterans in despair and unemployed parents in tears over Congress’ unwillingness to extend emergency unemployment insurance,” Garamendi said. “It’s our duty to act.”
“If we had pursued a comprehensive jobs strategy over these past few years, perhaps this measure wouldn’t be necessary. Instead, we’ve seen years of obstructionism driven by an extremist faction in the majority caucus. Now, millions of Americans are out of work through no fault of their own. They are the victims,” Garamendi added. “Signing onto this discharge petition is one of the only avenues available to me to require a vote on this important issue. The American people deserve to know where their representatives stand on extending unemployment insurance during a long period of high joblessness.”
Since the emergency unemployment insurance extension expired on December 28th, two million Americans, including two hundred thousand veterans, have lost this last resort lifeline, putting many of them in danger of homelessness and hunger. More than one million American children have been harmed too, since many Americans out of work through no fault of their own are parents and caretakers. In California, nearly 340,000 residents have lost their coverage and 181,000 children have been harmed. Without Congressional action soon, 836,000 Californians will have lost coverage by December 2014.
Ending the emergency unemployment insurance caused $3 billion in lost economic activity in January and February, including $567 million in California, due to households being unable to purchase and keep up with basic necessities. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that a one-year extension of unemployment insurance would create 200,000 jobs because these funds are quickly spent by recipients just to get by. According to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics and Senator John McCain’s former economics advisor, unemployment insurance generates $1.55 for every dollar invested in the program.
In December, Congressman Garamendi hosted a job fair in Solano County that attracted nearly a thousand people. His office will organize additional job fairs this year. More information is available on his website’s calendar.