Letter from unemployedworker.org TAKE ACTION!

Friends -

We want to leave you with the latest update on the extension efforts in DC along with an URGENT call to action between today and tomorrow.

As of yesterday, the Senate was looking to pass a 30-day stopgap measure in efforts to ensure that there is no lapse in unemployment benefit payments. This is a major priority for millions of you who could lose a viable safety net in this tough economy without swift Congressional action. We are well aware that the 30-day extension isn't a long-term solution to the current economic crisis, but we were pleased that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that after this stopgap, he would do his part to press for an unemployment benefit extension through December of this year along with legislation slated to help long-term unemployed workers. Reid's second course of action involved suggesting a full-year extension of unemployment insurance and a 65% COBRA subsidy. Find out more about Reid's plans here.

Last night, Senator Harry Reid's attempt to move a 30 day extension of UI and COBRA was met with an objection by Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY), who complained that the 30 day extension would not be paid for with another offset. Today, however, Senator Jon Kyl's (R-AZ) office is telling people that they are holding up the extension as leverage to get a further repeal of the estate tax. Right now, the 1.2 million workers who will lose benefits in March, as well as their families and their communities, are being held hostage by partisan attempts to gain an advantage for the families of deceased multi-millionaires.

YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS. And the Senate needs to know this. They are running out of time to get this extension done, and the House of Representatives needs to still take action as well. We need you to call your Senators, from whatever party, and tell them to get this done. We also need you to contact the Senate Republican Leadership, Senators McConnell (R-KY), (202) 224-2541, and Kyl, (202) 224-4521, and let them know that this kind of obstructionism cannot be tolerated at a moment of such crisis for so many.
We'll update you as soon as we know anything else. In the meantime, please keep the calls and emails going, and check our blog.

Your friends at unemployedworkers.org,

Andy, Andriette, Tiphany, Christine, Maurice, Judy and Rick

http://www.unemployedworkers.org/sites/unemployedworkers/index.php