Rep. Levin Launches "eCall to Extend Unemployment Benefits" website!

Welcome to the Ways and Means Democrats’
eCall to extend Unemployment Insurance.

Unemployment benefits are a vital lifeline for American workers who are jobless through no fault of their own. These programs help Americans continue to put food on their table and pay their bills while they look for work.

Federal unemployment programs, which now provide benefits to millions of Americans, will begin to expire at the end of this year. By February 2012, over two million Americans will be cut off from federal unemployment compensation. More than six million will lose support by the end of the 2012 - unless Congress acts to extend these vital benefits.

Economists agree that providing extended unemployment benefits is one of the most effective job creation strategies available during a period of high joblessness. Every dollar of unemployment compensation spent creates $1.61 in additional economic activity. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that allowing these Federal unemployment benefits to expire would hurt consumer demand and thereby cost the U.S. economy 528,000 jobs.

Ways and Means Democrats introduced the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2011 to extend the federal emergency unemployment insurance program past this year end cut off. Congress must act before the holidays so that unemployed workers and their families have the security that the rug is not about to be pulled out from under them and our economy has the confidence that workers will be supported while they look for jobs.

Our country has a federal emergency unemployment insurance system to support workers and their families during these difficult times. Unfortunately, the emergency federal unemployment insurance program is set to expire at the end of the year, and although the president has proposed extending these essential supports, Republicans haven't yet agreed to support this critical program.

There are fewer than seven weeks until the federal UI programs begin to expire, leaving more than two million Americans cut off of benefits by early February and six million by the end of next year. Follow the effort to preserve these vital benefits by liking the below Facebook page, where we post daily progress reports and highlight key news as the deadline approaches.