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Washington, D.C.—U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) released the following statement today after voting for H.R. 6867, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008. H.R. 6867, which passed the House by a vote of 368 to 28, will extend unemployment benefits for 7 weeks and 13 weeks for states with unemployment rates of 6 percent or higher. In Illinois, workers will be eligible for 13 weeks of unemployment benefits because the unemployment rate is 7.3 percent. The bill passed the House on the same day it was reported that 159,000 jobs had been lost in September-the highest one month loss in five years.
“Today we have another grim reminder of the deep economic problems our country is facing. For the ninth straight month, our economy has lost jobs as employers continue to lay off workers because of rising prices and a decline in business. The situation is even worse in Illinois with unemployment at 7.3 percent-an increase of 2.4 percent from this time last year. The current financial crisis on Wall Street has also exacerbated this problem by making it more difficult for businesses to borrow money to make payroll. Unless more credit is made available, unemployment will continue to increase as more businesses are forced to cut shifts and lay people off. Today’s news comes at a time when millions of people in Illinois and across the country are already struggling to figure out how they can pay their bills, feed their families and keep a roof over their head. Our bill will help ease some of that pain and fear by extending unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. I hope that the U.S. Senate will pass this unemployment benefit extension before it adjourns and that the President will sign this bill into law.”
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