Effort To Dismantle Federal Unemployment Insurance Launched In Congress

The following was originally published at UnemployedWorkers.org

Less than five months after approving a reauthorization of federally-funded unemployment insurance benefits as part of an agreement to extend tax cuts for those with the highest incomes, leading members of Congress are looking to break that agreement and dismantle the unemployment benefits program while leaving the tax cuts for the wealthy in place.

A bill introduced yesterday in the House by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and in the Senate by Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, would give states the ability to seize the federal funds allocated for unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and use them for other purposes, including bailing out state government funds and substituting for employer unemployment taxes.