Press Releases

Loss of benefits would hurt local businesses, slow economic growth

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree warned Congressional leaders today that letting emergency unemployment benefits expire at the end of this month would slow the economic recovery and make it harder for workers looking for a job to get by.

"If Congress doesn't act, 3,000 people in Maine will lose their unemployment checks at the end of the month and nearly 9,000 more will by next summer. Not only will that be a devastating blow to families struggling to make ends meet but will have a real impact on economic growth," Pingree said. "Unemployment checks don't sit in someone's bank account, they get spent on gas, groceries, clothes, home heating oil and other essentials at local businesses.”

According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) unemployment checks are the most effective benefit, dollar-for-dollar, to drive local economic activity.

At issue are benefits under the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which was passed in 2008 and signed into law by President Bush. The program extends unemployment benefits beyond the basic 26 weeks. According to a new report out this week from the White House Council of Economic Advisors, if Congress doesn't act to extend the program before December 28, 3,000 Maine workers would lose their benefits immediately and another 8,900 would lose them during the first half of nextyear. Already in Maine, the length of benefits available to unemployed workers has been cut back by over a third since 2011.

Pingree has been a strong supporter of continuing these extended benefits.

"Face it, the economy is still weak in Maine and around the country and it often takes awhile for someone to find a job," Pingree said. “These emergency benefits have already been scaled back as the economy slowly improves but letting the program end altogether would be like pulling the rug out from under families who are struggling to stay afloat in the middle of the winter."

According to the report out this week, failing to extend the program will cost the economy 240,000 jobs next year.

The full report from the White House Council of Economic Advisors can be found here.