WASHINGTON - State labor officials and worker advocates on Monday appealed for quick congressional action to extend emergency unemployment benefits and to renew health insurance subsidies for the long-term jobless.
Prolonged unemployment insurance, passed this year in the stimulus act, expires this month, and officials estimate that more than one million workers will see benefits end in January if Congress does not act.
The health subsidies, under which the federal government pays 65 percent of insurance costs under Cobra for as long as nine months, have already expired and are not available to the newly unemployed, who will have to pay family premiums averaging $1,100 if they want to keep their existing health plans.
Renewal this month of both forms of aid is "a moral imperative," said Sandi Vito, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Vito, who was joined by senior labor officials from seven other states, said the extensions were needed "through at least the end of 2010 as a bridge for people."
Congressional aides said that renewing the aid programs has bipartisan support.
Democratic congressional leaders are considering adding these safety net measures to a final spending bill for government operations in the current fiscal year, which they plan to pass before the end of the month. But the immediate prospects were uncertain, particularly in the Senate, which is dealing with health care and where there is disagreement over how long any emergency extensions should last.
Another year of extended benefits and aid for health insurance, including related tax breaks and a $25-a-week addition to benefits that Congress provided this year, would cost about $100 billion, officials estimate.
NEW YORK TIMES
