R.I.’s Senator Reed leading effort to extend unemployment benefits

PROVIDENCE — U.S. Sen. Jack Reed is spearheading the latest bid to extend unemployment benefits to more than 1.3 million Americans that risk losing them on Dec. 28.

Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat up for reelection next year, introduced legislation Wednesday along with Sen. Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican, to allow those affected to continue receiving benefits for three months while Congress works out a permanent plan.

In November, Reed and other Senate Democrats, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, proposed extending the benefits through 2014.

The proposal comes as the Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to recess for the year as soon as Friday and the Republican-run House is not likely to reconvene until after the New Year holiday.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Reed said he’s still pushing for at least a Senate vote on the proposal this week, but acknowledged that Republicans were resisting. He said the proposal could be also taken up early in the new year, inasmuch as it is retroactive to Dec. 28.

Without the extension, Reed argued, even more job seekers will lose their benefits in 2014, putting greater strain on businesses, families and states as the nation struggles to recover from recession.

Besides the 1.3 million Americans that would lose the benefits on Dec. 28, an additional 1.9 million could be dropped from the program over the first six months of 2014, Reed’s office said.

In Rhode Island, that means roughly 4,900 jobless could lose their benefits by Dec. 28 and 8,900 more would lose them in the first six months of 2014, the office said.

“These are people trying to do the best by their families,” Reed said. “The only reason why they qualify for these benefits is that they have a work history. So you’re talking about people who’ve worked, who lost their jobs — through no fault of their own — and who are now actively looking for work.”

The Dec. 28 deadline would not end unemployment benefits altogether.

At issue is what’s known as “emergency unemployment compensation,” a special, federally financed program created in 2008 to temporarily provide longer benefits to those in states with the highest unemployment rates, such as Rhode Island.

But while the program was never intended to be permanent, it has been reauthorized by Congress a number of times. On Wednesday, Reed argued that its need has not yet passed.

He noted that the program was created when the national unemployment rate was around 5.6 percent. (The rate is now about 7 percent, while Rhode Island’s is 9.2 percent.)

Additionally, Reed said, economic projections show modest but not overwhelming job growth, and the numbers of those considered long-term unemployed (out of work for more than 27 weeks) are on the rise.

“There is a point when you might consider turning off the program,” he said. “We’re not there yet.”

Reed also rejected Republican arguments that the program, if it is renewed, should be offset by spending cuts. “If there is talk about paying for it responsibly, we’re all ears,” he said. “Typically, though, extended unemployment benefits have been deemed emergency spending and have not been paid for.”

Job seekers can qualify for the federally financed benefits only after exhausting their regular unemployment benefits, which are paid through a state tax on local employers.

In Rhode Island, unemployed workers can receive up to 47 weeks of payments.

The state benefit offers up to 26 weeks of coverage at an average weekly benefit of $347 and a maximum benefit of $707 (for those with five dependent children), according to the state Department of Labor and Training.

The federally financed benefit gives qualified job seekers an additional 21 weeks of coverage at an average weekly payment of $309, the department said.

Rhode Island had a total of 14,341 people claiming state or federal unemployment benefits as of Dec. 11.