Fall 2009 Unemployment Extension Possible

Since EB has been "turned on" for many of us I thought I would have some fun and speculate what the future may bring. (We shouldnt forget about our many brothers and sisters out there who are not yet receiving EB benefits and I wish them well, many thanks to UIO for his good work in that regard)

Ideally, when EB expires, we will all be gainfully employed thus negating the need for such discussions. Just in case that is not the scenerio, I thought I would offer my speculation as to what lies ahead.

Given (in my opinion) the taxpayers are a little fed up with the term “stimulus package” due to things like price tag and delays much longer than promised or perceived, (not to mention its perceived in many circles as not working) I doubt there will be a Stimulus II. However I heard a pundit opine the other day that if unemployment remains above 10% this fall, they may do another stimulus and not call it that, but call it a unemployment extension.

I figure the Democratic party with all of their bashing of the oppositoin couldnt sit there in Washington and deny another unemployment extension heading into a election year with high unemployment.

I would be be careful what I wished for, as the fired CEO of GM and several bank CEOs can tell you, taking government money these days comes with a lot of strings. (They might have us working for ACORN or make us insulate our houses or something). And who knows what type of legislation would have to be crafted by the states to in order to receive another extension. (and how long that would take?, the Fla legislature only meets in the spring)

Perhaps we could apply for one of the “saved” jobs.

I truly hope that we are not having that discussion at that time and we can chat about how the economy has picked up and we are busy at work.

Best wishes to all!

I cropped the info below from another msg board, it was derived from a NELP mailing.
FYI

7/27/09
Rep. McDermott (of Washington State) announced his intention to introduce a bill to provide 13 extra weeks of UI benefits to workers in the highest unemployment states – 13 weeks in states with unemployment rates above 9%. We are going to send out an action alert to the 10,000 workers signed up on our website.

----

I spoke with Rep. McDermott's DC office today. The bill will be introduced on Thursday, July 30th and likely acted on in September after recess.

Gleaned this from another msg board. FYI 7/30/09

HR 3404 New Unemployment Bill Info!!!
Here it is everyone : )

HR 3404 – New Unemployment Extension Bill Info
Admin Today at 8:57 pm

.http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/pr090730.shtml

Beginning in September, hundreds of thousands of Americans will begin to exhaust their unemployment benefits every month unless Congress acts, and today Rep. Jim McDermott, chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, did just that. McDermott, whose subcommittee oversees the nation’s UI system, introduced legislation today, H.R. 3404, to extend UI benefits. It builds upon prior legislation by McDermott that was overwhelmingly passed on a bipartisan basis last year in response to the national economic crisis.

“Today there are at least five Americans looking for employment for every one available job and without extended benefits there will be a gaping hole in the economic lifeboat these Americans are in through no fault of their own; I don’t intend to let that happen,” Rep. McDermott said.

The legislation will add an additional 13 weeks of UI benefits for workers in states where the overall unemployment rate on a three-month rolling average is at or above 9%; as of today, 20 states plus the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico, would qualify. In addition, the legislation would continue provisions in the Recovery Act that are now set to phase out at the end of the year, including provisions providing extended benefits and increasing the amount of the weekly UI check by $25. An overview of the legislation follows.

Already the legislation has garnered 20 original co-sponsors including Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel. Rep. McDermott said he will push for quick passage in the House in early September to ensure that UI benefits continue to flow uninterrupted to those affected.

“This is a time when people need to know in word and deed that their government is standing by their side during this economic crisis,” Rep. McDermott said.

A copy of the legislation is attached.

Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009

The legislation would continue several current-law unemployment compensation programs through 2010 (without this extension, these programs would begin to phase-out at the end of 2009). The programs continued by the bill include:

1. Emergency Unemployment Compensation or EUC, which provides up to 33 weeks of extended benefits to workers exhausting their regular unemployment benefits.
2. 100% federal funding for Extended Benefits or EB, which provides up to an additional 20 weeks of extended benefits in high unemployment States.
3. Federal Additional Compensation or FAC, which increases unemployment benefits by $25 a week.

The legislation also would provide an additional 13 weeks of EUC benefits in States with a three-month average total unemployment rate of at least 9 percent or an insured unemployment rate of at least 6 percent.

* Under current unemployment rates, this provision would extend benefits for an estimated one million workers who would otherwise run out of benefits by the end of the year in States with high unemployment.
* States that now meet the required trigger for additional weeks of benefits include AL, CA, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MS, NV, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, WA, & WI. Additionally, a number of other States are within one percentage point of this standard and may meet it within the coming months, including AK, AZ, DE, ME, MA, MO, NJ, NY & WV. States with lower unemployment rates may still trigger additional weeks under the current EUC and EB programs if unemployment rates rise..

From the Open Congress site

HR 3404 - New Unemployment Extension Bill Info
Admin Today at 8:57 pm

http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/pr090730.shtml

Beginning in September, hundreds of thousands of Americans will begin to exhaust their unemployment benefits every month unless Congress acts, and today Rep. Jim McDermott, chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, did just that. McDermott, whose subcommittee oversees the nation’s UI system, introduced legislation today, H.R. 3404, to extend UI benefits. It builds upon prior legislation by McDermott that was overwhelmingly passed on a bipartisan basis last year in response to the national economic crisis.

“Today there are at least five Americans looking for employment for every one available job and without extended benefits there will be a gaping hole in the economic lifeboat these Americans are in through no fault of their own; I don’t intend to let that happen,” Rep. McDermott said.

The legislation will add an additional 13 weeks of UI benefits for workers in states where the overall unemployment rate on a three-month rolling average is at or above 9%; as of today, 20 states plus the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico, would qualify. In addition, the legislation would continue provisions in the Recovery Act that are now set to phase out at the end of the year, including provisions providing extended benefits and increasing the amount of the weekly UI check by $25. An overview of the legislation follows.

Already the legislation has garnered 20 original co-sponsors including Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel. Rep. McDermott said he will push for quick passage in the House in early September to ensure that UI benefits continue to flow uninterrupted to those affected.

“This is a time when people need to know in word and deed that their government is standing by their side during this economic crisis,” Rep. McDermott said.

A copy of the legislation is attached.
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009

The legislation would continue several current-law unemployment compensation programs through 2010 (without this extension, these programs would begin to phase-out at the end of 2009). The programs continued by the bill include:

1. Emergency Unemployment Compensation or EUC, which provides up to 33 weeks of extended benefits to workers exhausting their regular unemployment benefits.
2. 100% federal funding for Extended Benefits or EB, which provides up to an additional 20 weeks of extended benefits in high unemployment States.
3. Federal Additional Compensation or FAC, which increases unemployment benefits by $25 a week.

The legislation also would provide an additional 13 weeks of EUC benefits in States with a three-month average total unemployment rate of at least 9 percent or an insured unemployment rate of at least 6 percent.

* Under current unemployment rates, this provision would extend benefits for an estimated one million workers who would otherwise run out of benefits by the end of the year in States with high unemployment.
* States that now meet the required trigger for additional weeks of benefits include AL, CA, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MS, NV, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, WA, & WI. Additionally, a number of other States are within one percentage point of this standard and may meet it within the coming months, including AK, AZ, DE, ME, MA, MO, NJ, NY & WV. States with lower unemployment rates may still trigger additional weeks under the current EUC and EB programs if unemployment rates rise..

HR 3404 is now posted on the Open Congress.org site, along with a new comments section already started by the OC 6867 "regulars."

Also, if you haven't been there for a while, it's a whole new design with some new features. One of them lets you put in your +4 zip code into your profile and automatically link to your Congressional rep's website for contact info.

nancym wrote:HR 3404 is now posted on the Open Congress.org site, along with a new comments section already started by the OC 6867 "regulars."

Also, if you haven't been there for a while, it's a whole new design with some new features. One of them lets you put in your +4 zip code into your profile and automatically link to your Congressional rep's website for contact info.

Thanks nancym If your single I would marry you!! hehehe

Unemployed In Orlando wrote:

Thanks nancym If your single I would marry you!! hehehe

Ha-ha! Yes, single (divorced), but I'm afraid old enough to be your mother, UIO! Thanks for the proposal anyway!

nancym wrote:

Unemployed In Orlando wrote:

Thanks nancym If your single I would marry you!! hehehe

Ha-ha! Yes, single (divorced), but I'm afraid old enough to be your mother, UIO! Thanks for the proposal anyway!

Lol

Just watched the extension subject come up on the Sunday news shows , the Director of the White House's National Economic Council (Lawrence Summers) and the Sec of Treasury (Tim Geithner) were asked about it. The answers were weasle-worded. Summers responded we "have" extended it already (refering to the previous extensions) , when pressed he said 'they would look at it'.

Mr Geithner said they would see what the data in the fall brings and they would work on it with the Congress if necessary.

One of the pontificating talking heads afterwords interpreted the extension proposal as 13 more weeks on top of the current 79 weeks (unemployment +EUC+ EB).

[although this doesnt jive with the legislative proposals that have been posted here]

In my opinion they have to walk a political high-wire on this. On one hand the administration is saying the economy is stabilizing and begining to recover, on the other hand its difficult to portray that msg and advocate extending unemployment benefits at the same time.

Agreed sc4ram, they have to be careful with what they say in that regard.

Here is the news release from this morning -

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday more actions may be necessary to firm up economic recovery, including extended unemployment aid, and declined to rule out future tax hikes to reduce massive budget deficits.

Geithner also said the government needed to show the will to reverse massive deficits after the recovery, including raising tax revenues if necessary.

"We have to bring them down to a level where the amount we're borrowing from the world is stable at a reasonable level," Geithner said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

"And that's going to require some very hard choices. And we're going to have to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens that the average American already faces."

He said it was too soon "to make a judgment about what it's going to take" to reduce deficits.

There were signs the economy is starting to improve, Geithner said, but "we have a ways to go" before it starts growing enough to create jobs again.

Although economic forecasters predict that output will turn positive in the second half of this year, Geithner said as that happens, the pace of job losses will slow materially.

But the Obama administration may have to look at extending unemployment benefits toward the end of the year to deal with a stubbornly high jobless rate.

"I think that is something that the administration and Congress are going to look very carefully at as we get closer to the end of this year," Geithner said.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking later on the same program, said strengthening confidence in the economy could be dashed if home prices were to take another turn downward.

Greenspan told the ABC program he didn't believe that a steep drop was in store, but home prices had stabilized only temporarily.

"It is possible that could get a second wave down," Greenspan said. "Under those conditions, we would get a very significant change in the underlying confidence in the consumer area," as foreclosures rise and more home values fall below their mortgage levels.




Doesnt seem like they want to commit about extending unemployment benefits as they push to show the economy is rebounding. Its going to take many companies here in florida to see profits back in the black before they lose their hesitation to eliminate these hiring freezes.

A NYT article below on the subject. It's take is that the McDermitt proposal IS a incremental 13 weeks on top of the 79. FYI


August 2, 2009
Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running Out By ERIK ECKHOLM
Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.

Because of emergency extensions already enacted by Congress, laid-off workers in nearly half the states can collect benefits for up to 79 weeks, the longest period since the unemployment insurance program was created in the 1930s. But unemployment in this recession has proved to be especially tenacious, and a wave of job-seekers is using up even this prolonged aid.

Tens of thousands of workers have already used up their benefits, and the numbers are expected to soar in the months to come, reaching half a million by the end of September and 1.5 million by the end of the year, according to new projections by the National Employment Law Project, a private research group.

Unemployment insurance is now a lifeline for nine million Americans, with payments averaging just over $300 per week, varying by state and work history. While many recipients find new jobs before exhausting their benefits, large numbers in the current recession have been unable to find work for a year or more.

Calls are rising for Congress to pass yet another extension this fall, possibly adding 13 more weeks of coverage in states with especially high unemployment. As of June, the national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, reaching 15.2 percent in Michigan. Even if the recession begins to ease, economists say, jobs will remain scarce for some time to come.

“If more help is not on the way, by September a huge wave of workers will start running out of their critical extended benefits, and many will have nothing left to get by on even as work keeps getting harder to find,” said Maurice Emsellem, a policy director of the employment law project.

For many desperate job seekers, any extension will seem a blessing. Pamela C. Lampley of Dillon, S.C., said she sat outside the post office last month and cried because “it was the first Wednesday in quite some time that I’ve gone to the mailbox and left without an unemployment check.” The jobless rate in her state is 12.1 percent.

Ms. Lampley, 40, who is married with three children, lost her job as a human resources officer in January 2008 and had been receiving $351 a week, which covered the groceries and gas. Even so, she and her husband, who still has work as a machinist, were sinking into debt. Now, still poorer, she feels devastated because they cannot buy their son a laptop to take to college and she cannot give her 9-year-old son money for the movies.

In Ohio, where unemployment is 11.1 percent, Cathy Nixon, 39, a mother of four teenagers from Lorain, has been out of work for much of the time since June 2007, and her benefits — $313 a week — run out in September. Ms. Nixon is already fighting foreclosure and said she feared that when the benefits end, “we’ll be homeless.” She was unable to afford summer camp and baseball activities for her children, despite scrimping on basics.

Raymond Crouse of Columbus operated heavy construction machinery but has found no work since 2007. Mr. Crouse is 72 and receives Social Security but said that was not enough to live on. The $190 a month he has received in unemployment benefits enabled him and his wife to hang on to the house they bought 15 years ago, he said. But with the benefits ending next month, he fears that they will not keep up.

In ordinary times, employers pay into a state insurance fund, and workers who lose jobs draw benefits for up to 26 weeks. During recessions, Congress has often paid for extended coverage for an extra 13 or even 20 weeks.

In 2008, as the recession deepened, Congress provided 33 extra weeks of benefits. Earlier this year, President Obama’s stimulus plan offered an additional 20 weeks in states where unemployment surpassed 8 percent, if they adopted new federally recommended rules governing these extra weeks. (South Carolina did not make the changes, and benefits there are running out more quickly.)

Currently, people can draw benefits for up to 79 weeks in 24 states and from 46 weeks to 72 weeks in others.

The stimulus law also, through the end of the year, provided an extra $25 a week to all recipients, exempted a portion of benefits from federal income tax and subsidized Cobra health payments for the unemployed.

Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington and chairman of the House Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, said he would introduce a bill in September to provide yet another 13 weeks of coverage in states with unemployment rates of 9 percent or higher. “Legislators will line up quickly when they start getting calls from desperate constituents,” he said in a telephone interview.

The cost would be $40 billion to $70 billion, but the expense would be temporary, Mr. McDermott said.

Some business groups remain skeptical. Douglas Holmes, president of UWC, a group in Washington that represents businesses on unemployment issues, said that there were early glimmers of economic progress and that it was premature to extend benefits again. The money might be better spent, Mr. Holmes said, creating jobs and training people to move into emerging industries.

Traditionally, many economists have been leery of prolonged unemployment benefits because they can reduce the incentive to seek work. But that should not be a concern now because jobs remain so scarce, said Lawrence Katz, a labor economist at Harvard.

For every job that becomes available, about six people are looking, Dr. Katz said. “Unemployment insurance gives income to families who are really suffering and can’t find work even if they are hustling to look,” he said.

With the economy still listing, he added, a temporary extension can provide a quick fiscal stimulus. And, Dr. Katz said, when people exhaust unemployment and health insurance, many end up applying for disability benefits, which become a large, unending drain on the Treasury.

Ms. Lampley, whose benefits have ended, described the tough job market. She used to make nearly $15 an hour and has unsuccessfully sought office and clerical work at $8 an hour. Mr. Crouse said that even if new building projects were planned, construction slows in the winter cold.

And Ms. Nixon said that she had interviewed endlessly for jobs in real estate and office work and that even her teenagers could not find fast-food jobs because laid-off adults were filling them.

“I can’t find a job,” she said, “and you can’t survive if you don’t work.”

I agree with you all. After reading the proposed bill, here’s my interpretation.

The current federal unemployment extensions, the EUC and EB are due to expire in Dec 2009. HR 3404 pushes this deadline into 2010, so that people running out of regular benefits in Dec 2009 and Jan 2010 can be eligible for the EUC and EB extensions. And for those of us that will have exhausted all extensions, EUC and EB, HR 3404 has another 13 week EUC extension, for states with high unemployment. So depending on how well this bill goes, it MIGHT become law by mid-September.

Hope this is right. Given up on the other forum...I'm getting attacked!

SaraJ wrote:I agree with you all. After reading the proposed bill, here’s my interpretation.

The current federal unemployment extensions, the EUC and EB are due to expire in Dec 2009. HR 3404 pushes this deadline into 2010, so that people running out of regular benefits in Dec 2009 and Jan 2010 can be eligible for the EUC and EB extensions. And for those of us that will have exhausted all extensions, EUC and EB, HR 3404 has another 13 week EUC extension, for states with high unemployment. So depending on how well this bill goes, it MIGHT become law by mid-September.

Hope this is right. Given up on the other forum...I'm getting attacked!

Four Pillars is full of ignorant bullshit, hence the reason I made this forum where it could be moderated and we could share information with one another in a better format

Four Pillars is full of ignorant bullshit, hence the reason I made this forum where it could be moderated and we could share information with one another in a better format [/quote]


Thanks UIO!!! You are great!

HEY UIO, just checking in, the other site is as you say BS, i got my head bit off by JUST ME, for saying that this possible extension sounds like they are just extending dates for them, Just Me, said were did i get off spreading bad news like this and were did i get this information from, i told her i read it on your site and that is how you thought it was going to be, she then told me she would not allow me to spread lies on the four pillars site, and that it would not be tolerated from her. i told her you are always right and your site is not about always positive information because that cant always be the case. i told her i hope she is right but if she isnt as firm as she is that EB is getting a extension in sept. alot of readers will be so mad at her. i see SARAJ is on this site too she got her head bit off by JUST ME AS WELL.

daytonawanda wrote:HEY UIO, just checking in, the other site is as you say BS, i got my head bit off by JUST ME, for saying that this possible extension sounds like they are just extending dates for them, Just Me, said were did i get off spreading bad news like this and were did i get this information from, i told her i read it on your site and that is how you thought it was going to be, she then told me she would not allow me to spread lies on the four pillars site, and that it would not be tolerated from her. i told her you are always right and your site is not about always positive information because that cant always be the case. i told her i hope she is right but if she isnt as firm as she is that EB is getting a extension in sept. alot of readers will be so mad at her. i see SARAJ is on this site too she got her head bit off by JUST ME AS WELL.

Hey Wanda Yeah Ive noticed Just Me's posts, its all BS. Obviously that person cant freaking read....

I posted this at the top of this thread but...

The legislation would continue several current-law unemployment compensation programs through 2010 (without this extension, these programs would begin to phase-out at the end of 2009). The programs continued by the bill include:

1. Emergency Unemployment Compensation or EUC, which provides up to 33 weeks of extended benefits to workers exhausting their regular unemployment benefits.
2. 100% federal funding for Extended Benefits or EB, which provides up to an additional 20 weeks of extended benefits in high unemployment States.
3. Federal Additional Compensation or FAC, which increases unemployment benefits by $25 a week.

Whats important to note here is the "The programs continued by the bill include:" part..... Continued..... I guess they cant understand the difference between a new 4th tier of benefits and what continuing the current program means.

The reason for the continuation is because the EUC from Nov 2008 and the EB from Feb 2009 are set to expire by the end of the year. I very seriously doubt that the feds will pass another 4th extension due to the economy showing signs of strength. Consumer spending is up, the DOW has broke 9000 again, cash for clunkers program stimulating spending and increasing car sales out of detroit, it would be hard to visualize another 13-20 weeks on a 4th tier.

Of course this is of my own opinion and complete speculation on my part until I see something more concrete from the gov

Nancy & Sc4ram, what do you think about this so far?

Here is the other side of the story:

That's not all true Wanda. You two were pretty bad slamming her with nasty remarks. Sara P was posting negative messages on there with other peoples names. And the real KJPS, which was the name that was used read it and was not happy about it.
She was trying to help all of us as there as not alot of news being posted on that page. She posted all of the news and including HR3404, HR3457,HR155 and many newspaper articles, including the NELP proposal. What she was opposed to was you saying that there was no extension to the others right after the HR3404 got posted. In HR3404 once approved,the bill also provides 13 weeks for high unemployment states over 9%. You had earlier posted the same wrong info and was given the correct information earlier that morning by others on the blog, then went back and posted inaccurate info on the Florida page.
Sara P, she complimented you on your interpretation of HR3404. But you were so full of venom calling her a know it all, you didn't notice. Wanda, she wished you a great day in your job search, and you wished her well back.
Fortunately quite a few people spoke up in her defense, and you posted that you were not going to post there anymore. Thru all of the verbal abuse from the both of you , she remained calm and respectful. I am sorry everyone, I just had to let the other side be known.

Good job sc4ram. That's the one that Just Me posted on Four Pillars. I recognize the smiley face at the end. I think that it's a good chance that this one will go thru. On NELP's main page they are proposing to Congress a minumum of 10 weeks to all states and 20 weeks to states with 11% or higher unemployment. This proposal will be alot harder to pass, but what the heck, unemployment is really high and you never know.

Sorry but Im just not seeing another extension in the new bill...

As I understand this bill extends the cutoff period and defines what a states EB period benefits would be, since most all of you are collecting this EB now, it doesnt show another extension.

Here is the bill in full...

HR 3404 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3404
To amend the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to provide for the temporary extension of certain unemployment benefits and the temporary availability of further additional emergency unemployment compensation, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 30, 2009
Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. STARK, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. NADLER of New York, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. FARR, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. PETERS, Mr. DINGELL, and Mrs. CAPPS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BILL
To amend the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to provide for the temporary extension of certain unemployment benefits and the temporary availability of further additional emergency unemployment compensation, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009’.
SEC. 2. TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF CERTAIN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

(a) Emergency Unemployment Compensation- Section 4007 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended--

(1) by striking ‘December 31, 2009’ each place it appears and inserting ‘December 31, 2010’;
(2) in the heading for subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘DECEMBER 31, 2009’ and inserting ‘DECEMBER 31, 2010’; and
(3) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘May 31, 2010’ and inserting ‘May 31, 2011’.
(b) Additional Regular Compensation- Section 2002(e) of the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act, as contained in Public Law 111-5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 438), is amended--

(1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘January 1, 2010’ and inserting ‘January 1, 2011’;
(2) in the heading for paragraph (2), by striking ‘JANUARY 1, 2010’ and inserting ‘JANUARY 1, 2011’; and
(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘June 30, 2010’ and inserting ‘June 30, 2011’.
(c) Full Funding of Extended Benefits- Section 2005 of the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act, as contained in Public Law 111-5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 444), is amended--

(1) by striking ‘January 1, 2010’ each place it appears and inserting ‘January 1, 2011’;
(2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘June 1, 2010’ and inserting ‘June 1, 2011’; and
(3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘May 30, 2010’ and inserting ‘May 30, 2011’.
SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.

(a) In General- Section 4002 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘(d) Further Additional Emergency Unemployment Compensation-

‘(1) IN GENERAL- If, at the time that the amount added to an individual’s account under subsection (c)(1) (hereinafter ‘additional emergency unemployment compensation’) is exhausted or at any time thereafter, such individual’s State is in an extended benefit period (as determined under paragraph (2)), such account shall be further augmented by an amount (hereinafter ‘further additional emergency unemployment compensation’) equal to the lesser of--

‘(A) 50 percent of the total amount of regular compensation (including dependents’ allowances) payable to the individual during the individual’s benefit year under the State law; or
‘(B) 13 times the individual’s average weekly benefit amount (as determined under subsection (b)(2)) for the benefit year.
‘(2) EXTENDED BENEFIT PERIOD- For purposes of paragraph (1), a State shall be considered to be in an extended benefit period, as of any given time, if--

‘(A) such a period is then in effect for such State under the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970;
‘(B) such a period would then be in effect for such State under such Act if section 203(d) of such Act--

‘(i) were applied by substituting ‘6’ for ‘5’ each place it appears; and
‘(ii) did not include the requirement under paragraph (1)(A) thereof; or
‘(C) such a period would then be in effect for such State under such Act if--

‘(i) section 203(f) of such Act were applied to such State (regardless of whether the State by law had provided for such application); and
‘(ii) such section 203(f)--

‘(I) were applied by substituting ‘9.0’ for ‘6.5’ in paragraph (1)(A)(i) thereof; and
‘(II) did not include the requirement under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) thereof.
‘(3) COORDINATION RULE- Notwithstanding an election under section 4001(e) by a State to provide for the payment of emergency unemployment compensation prior to extended compensation, such State may pay extended compensation to an otherwise eligible individual prior to any further additional emergency unemployment compensation, if such individual claimed extended compensation for at least 1 week of unemployment after the exhaustion of additional emergency unemployment compensation.
‘(4) LIMITATION- The account of an individual may be augmented not more than once under this subsection.’.
(b) Conforming Amendment to Non-augmentation Rule- Section 4007(b)(2) of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note), as amended by section 2(a), is further amended--

(1) by striking ‘then section 4002(c)’ and inserting ‘then subsections (c) and (d) of section 4002’; and
(2) by striking ‘paragraph (2) of such section)’ and inserting ‘paragraph (2) of such subsection (c) or (d) (as the case may be))’.
(c) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall apply as if included in the enactment of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008, except that no amount shall be payable by virtue of such amendments with respect to any week of unemployment commencing before the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. TRANSFER OF FUNDS.

Section 4004(e)(1) of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended by striking ‘Act;’ and inserting ‘Act and the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009;’.
SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS UNDER THE RAILROAD UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT.

(a) Benefits- Section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, as added by section 2006 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), is amended--

(1) in clause (iii)--

(A) by striking ‘June 30, 2009’ and inserting ‘June 30, 2010’;
(B) by striking ‘December 31, 2009’ and inserting ‘December 31, 2010’; and
(2) by adding at the end of clause (iv) the following: ‘In addition to the amount appropriated by the preceding sentence, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated $175,000,000 to cover the cost of additional extended unemployment benefits provided under this subparagraph, to remain available until expended.’.
(b) Administrative Expenses- Section 2006 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is amended by adding at the end of subsection (b) the following: ‘In addition to funds appropriated by the preceding sentence, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated to the Railroad Retirement Board $807,000 to cover the administrative expenses associated with the payment of additional extended unemployment benefits under section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, to remain available until expended.’.
SEC. 6. EFFICIENT USE OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTORY OF NEW HIRES DATABASE FOR FEDERALLY-SPONSORED RESEARCH ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS IN ACHIEVING POSITIVE LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES.

Section 453 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 653) is amended--

(1) in subsection (i)(2)(A), by striking ‘24’ and inserting ‘48’;
(2) in subsection (j)(5), by striking ‘but without personal identifiers’ and inserting ‘or pursuant to evaluations undertaken to assess the effectiveness of Federal programs in achieving positive labor market outcomes that are conducted under contract to or grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Labor, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or other Federal departments or agencies supporting the evaluations. For purposes of conducting the evaluations, personal identifiers may be provided to any Federal department or agency and to any agent of any such department or agency, subject to the privacy provisions contained in subsections (l) and (m)’; and
(3) in subsection (l)(2), by inserting ‘, agent conducting research described in subsection (j)(5),’ before ‘or employee’.

Dear Help, you sound exactly like "Just Me." Please do not include me in your childish game. I'm a dedicated mother whose husband passed away after a long illness about a year ago. YOU NEED TO STOP POSTING INACCURATE INFO AS I NEVER POSTED UNDER SOMEONE ELSE'S NAME....HOW DARE YOU!

Please stay on topic, thats why I made this forum so we wouldnt have the drama

UIO,
I am not much for reading or interpreting the bills. The additional 13 weeks is all over the newspapers. Here is a news article. The last paragraph mentions the additional weeks.

Aug. 3, 2009 – 1:23 p.m.
New Extension of Jobless Benefits Likely
A new push from the Obama administration over the weekend may aid lawmakers in their efforts to pass an extension of unemployment benefits following the August recess.

Leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee have begun working to craft an extension of unemployment insurance benefits before Sept. 30, when many workers will have exhausted both their regular and extended jobless benefits.

Congress has already acted twice during the current recession to keep unemployment benefits flowing — once in last year’s supplemental spending bill and again in the economic stimulus package enacted early this year.

But without another extension, more and more workers will start losing their benefits every month.

Extending unemployment benefits “is something that the administration and Congress are going to look very carefully at as we get closer to the end of this year,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

But the details have not been resolved.

“That’s what we’re working on now,” said Rep. Charles B. Rangel , D-N.Y., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which would be first to consider an extension of unemployment benefits. The committee is expected to take up legislation on the issue soon after the August recess.

Rep. Jim McDermott , D-Wash., chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, introduced a bill late last week to keep a program of extended unemployment benefits running through Dec. 31, 2010, instead of expiring as scheduled at the end of 2009.

McDermott’s bill also would keep in force through 2010 the extra $25 per week in benefit checks approved under the stimulus bill.

In addition, the bill would extend jobless benefits for an additional 13 weeks in states with unemployment rates at or above 9 percent on a rolling three-month average. As of now, he said, 20 states would qualify.

I might be mistaken, but I am thinking that this is for states who have not received an EB 3rd tier, Florida legislature has already approved and began ours. Many states were waiting on the state gov to do this but this bill makes it a blanket thing by law from the feds. Thats how I am reading into this.

Unemployed In Orlando wrote:Sorry but Im just not seeing another extension in the new bill...

As I understand this bill extends the cutoff period and defines what a states EB period benefits would be, since most all of you are collecting this EB now, it doesnt show another extension.

Sorry Stuart, I'm going to disagree with you here, but I hope you will welcome this particular post.

H.R. 3404 does, as you point out, continue existing programs past their current deadlines. But it also adds 13 weeks to those states over 9%, just as it says in the news articles. (I know we've grown to distrust unemployment news due to so much bad reporting in the past, but they seem to have it right this time, possibly due to contact with NELP who helps clarify these things for reporters, or McDermott's own offices.)

The 13 weeks is all in SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION. The key words here are "Emergency Unemployment Compensation," or EUC, the law that Bush signed in Nov '08 and the Tier1-Tier 2 program that we were all on until EB kicked in. HR 3404 is NOT a further extension of EB; in fact we don't WANT that! More EB would require god knows how much more state wrangling and delay to get it through the state legislatures, etc. Remember how quickly EUC was implemented without any state laws needed? We had to wait for the computer setup, but all states got it within a month or so of enactment.

HR 3404 says in Section 3:

"(1) IN GENERAL- If, at the time that the amount added to an individual’s account under subsection (c)(1) (hereinafter ‘additional emergency unemployment compensation’) is exhausted or at any time thereafter, such individual’s State is in an extended benefit period (as determined under paragraph (2)), such account shall be further augmented (italics mine) by an amount (hereinafter ‘further additional emergency unemployment compensation’) equal to the lesser of--"

..and goes on to detail that amount and specifies that applies only if the state is considered in an extended EB period of 9% (substitute 9 for 6.5 in earlier EUC bill).

So when we all exhaust our EB accounts, our EUC accounts that are currently exhausted would all be given an amount for and additional 13 weeks. [Further language in the bill allows for state discretion in which can be given first (as it has always been a state option). I.e., someone now on EUC could be given the whole 33 weeks before going into EB, if the state wanted to do it that way, or they could do EUC-EB-back to EUC.]

In other words, McDermott's bill is essentially an amendment to the 2008 EUC bill that provided 20 weeks. The full bill when passed will probably be ten times more pages to fill in the entire language of EUC.

This EUC bill, or amendment to the bill, is tied to EB status, even though it has nothing to do with EB, the Extended Benefits federal-state law that actually dates back to 1970. This amendment is only to the EUC bill.

I hope this clarifies and confirms what you've all been reading in the newspapers. If anyone is still in doubt or thinks I live in a fantasy land, I'd suggest calling up McDermott's offices or maybe the House Ways and Means Committee if they are open during recess to get someone knowledgable about the bill's wording to confirm what I've said here.

Having said all this, most of us over on Open Congress agree that the bill should be changed to NELP's recommendation for a sliding scale instead of cutting out those states that would fall short of 9% but whose unemployed are suffering just as much as the rest of us. NELP has recommended 10 weeks for every state on a sliding scale up to 20 weeks for those over 11%, a much fairer plan. But hey, if the only thing they can pass is HR 3404, that's better than nothing. And bear in mind that the bill is just a House bill that will have to match up with what the Senate wants, so the final bill could be anything, better or worse!