LANSING – In order to provide more help to Michigan's struggling working families, State Representative Kate Ebli (D-Monroe) on Tuesday urged the U.S. Congress to extend federal unemployment benefits for workers who have lost their jobs due to Michigan's struggling economy.
"Our working families are struggling to make ends meet through no fault of their own and are exhausting their state unemployment benefits," Ebli said. "As we fight to create good-paying jobs now and move our economy forward, we must support our workers who have lost their jobs to outsourcing and downsizing. Additional unemployment payments will help them provide necessities like food, medicine and gas for their families."
The U.S. Congress is considering legislation that calls for unemployment benefits to be extended by up to 20 weeks in most states. States with high unemployment rates – including Michigan – would see unemployment benefits extended an additional 13 weeks. Michigan residents currently get up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. The plan in Congress could provide unemployment relief for Michigan workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own for up to 59 weeks.
The resolution was introduced in the Michigan House yesterday urging Congress to approve the federal extension. The resolution was adopted on a vote of 106 to 0.
With jobs hard to come by, the unemployment rate in Michigan has been hovering around 7 percent for months. Over the past year, 156,000 Michigan residents have exhausted their unemployment benefits and another 72,000 are expected to exhaust theirs in the first half of this year, according to a June 7 article in The Detroit News.
"At a time when Michigan is struggling with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, we can't abandon our workers while they are out searching for new jobs in their field or retraining for work in new ones," Ebli said. "The federal government must step up and provide support for our workers during these tough economic times. I urge my colleagues in Congress to pass this plan immediately."