Republicans take aim at Unemployment benefits AGAIN - Politico - Rep Sander Levin

[JohnWxy]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57708.html


Republicans in the House and Senate are now seeking to bring an early end to that commitment. Ways and Means Committee Republicans recently passed legislation that would eliminate the guarantee of extended unemployment insurance for jobless workers. The lead Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), has proposed an identical measure in the upper chamber.

The bill, masked as an effort to give states flexibility as they seek to increase the solvency of their unemployment trust funds, would leave millions of Americans uncertain about whether their unemployment checks will continue to help them make ends meet or just stop arriving altogether. The bill’s premise is rooted in the argument that unemployment benefits prevent Americans from returning to work.

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Unemployment insurance is far from enough to prevent someone from looking for work. Checks average about $300 a week — which only gets a family of four to 70 percent of the poverty level. There is plenty of incentive to look for work.

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Nonpartisan analysts have repeatedly found that unemployment benefits provide a bigger economic bang for the buck than most tax and spending policies — because the money goes to those who must spend it quickly in their local economies. Moody’s economist Mark Zandi, cited by both parties for his prudent analyses, has said that no other form of fiscal stimulus has proved more effective during the past two years than emergency unemployment benefits

[saras]

1. Pretty wild premise - do they provide any supporting data?

"The bill’s premise is rooted in the argument that unemployment benefits prevent Americans from returning to work."

umm, right. People walk out of great jobs all the time to suck up that unemployment. Sure.