Newschannel 13 – WNYT
Albany
http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S1844061.shtml?cat=10114
A coalition of local progressive organizations voiced a common theme Wednesday.
“It is pretty ironic that we’re talking about unemployment benefits not being extended while at the same time we’re talking about extending tax cuts to the very wealthy,” said Rob Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.
You can argue what the true message was from the recent election. The reality is there is less backing for extending government support programs, especially when unemployment benefits have already run to 99 weeks for some of the jobless.
“Generally for every job available there are five people applying,” said Frank Nataile of the Capital District Area Labor Federation. “This means that millions are unemployed through no fault of their own.”
In New York unemployment is limited to 50 per cent of average earnings when the recepient was working, capped at 405 dollars a week. It hasn’t gone up for a number of years.
The money helps pay for rent and heat and food. This in a country where our government has found the jobless and working poor often can’t afford to keep everyone from avoiding hunger.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 15 per cent of American households can’t always afford to provide enough to eat.
“It’s a very shocking and compelling figure,” U. S. Agriculture Department Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon said.
“Extending unemployment benefits to people at the lower levels of our socio-economic ladder will do much more to stimulate the economy than providing the wealthiest Americans with additional tax cuts,” said Deutsch.
