Congress has failed to enact a Tier 5 Extension of Unemployment Benefits.
I can't pay the bill, so I expect to lose my Internet on Monday.
My most recent letter to Congress:
99 weeks of Unemployment is NOT enough!!!
The point of the benefits is to make is possible for the workers to pay their bills, feed their families, and keep a roof over their heads until they can work again.
My husband and I -- both separately and together -- have been writing to you and your colleagues for months.
Apparently, nobody listened.
My husband's Tier 4 unemployment completely ran out in February. Congress has passed two one-month extensions, but that doesn't help the tens of thousands who are in the same boat with us. Those extensions only apply to those still in their 1st through 4th tiers of benefits.
Congress has failed to enact a new 5th tier of benefits. So my husband and I -- along with the thousands and thousands of others who can't find jobs -- now have NO income. We are in danger of losing our Internet and phone, which will make it that much harder to look for work. We're also in danger of losing our homes.
There are no full-time jobs here that will hire my husband at age 57 -- despite the fact that he's a Viet Nam era veteran. He scraps metal with our neighbor -- when the landlord will loan us the truck that used to be ours (the landlord accepted it as payment for one month's rent). Our car doesn't run -- so my husband rides his bike seven miles into town to the day-labor office. In the last week, he has earned less than $30 because there's not enough day-labor work.
That's barely enough to buy toilet paper, shampoo, and dish soap. No way will it get the car fixed.
Unless a new tier 5 is enacted, we'll be evicted -- and homeless -- at the end of the month. We have already received an eviction notice.
I'm disabled and can't work -- yet I'm my third go round of being denied SSD benefits. I also have a compromised immune system and suffer from recurring abcesses. Losing our home and moving to a tent is liable to kill me.
Enact a Tier 5 Unemployment now!!! If you don't... My blood will be on your hands.
Please, write to your Senators, and try to save others from my fate.
Update: A friend just received this email from U.S Senator Charles Schumer, so please post all over the internet
Thank you for contacting me to express your support for a fifth tier of unemployment insurance (UI). I wholeheartedly agree that Congress should extend these critical benefits, as well as take further action to spur job creation.
Tens of millions of Americans are looking for work and a record 6.5 million have been unemployed for more than six months. That is why Congress has acted several times since this economic downturn began to extend, expand and improve UI. In November 2009, Congress extended UI by 14 weeks in all states and 20 weeks in high-unemployment states such as New York. Because of this legislation, out-of-work New Yorkers can now claim a maximum 99 weeks of UI. In December, Congress passed a two-month extension of the unemployment provisions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (commonly known as the stimulus package), which were set to expire at the end of 2009. These provisions include a vital emergency tier of benefits, expanded eligibility, an extra $100 per month in benefits, and an income tax disregard on the first $2,400 of UI. These provisions were extended again in March, but briefly lapsed in early April due to filibustering by the minority party. Senate Democrats were recently able to overcome this obstruction and pass another one-month extension, which included retroactive benefits—a first in the history of UI.
This extension presents some comfort to the unemployed, but it is certainly not enough. The American Workers, State and Business Relief Act, which I vocally supported and which passed the Senate in March, would extend the 99 weeks of UI through the end of 2010. The House of Representatives passed a slightly different end-of-year extension; the two bills are now being reconciled. Once I ensure that every New Yorker receives the full 99 weeks to which they are entitled, I will work with my colleagues to create a fifth tier of benefits. More than 25,000 New Yorkers have exhausted the full 99 weeks of benefits and I am committed to providing them further relief.
Helping unemployed workers make ends meet is only part of the equation to put America on a path to economic recovery. Congress is also working on a robust job creation agenda. The centerpiece of the H.I.R.E. Act (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act), which the President signed into law last month, was a provision I authored with my colleague Senator Hatch (R-UT). Our provision stipulates that any business—large or small—that hires a long-term unemployed person in 2010 will not have to pay FICA taxes on that individual for the rest of the year. Economists of all political stripes predict that this law will spur hundreds of thousands of new jobs. The Senate is also working on a number of other pieces of jobs legislation, including proposals to eliminate the capital gains tax on small business investments and make it easier and more affordable for small businesses—the engines of growth in our economy—to get loans. Another legislative proposal currently under consideration would make a sizeable investment in our nation’s highways, railways and aviation infrastructure. These public works projects will be designed to get started as quickly as possible to get Americans back to work.
Again, thank you for contacting me on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can be of further assistance on this, or any other, matter.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator
Please do not respond to this email. To send another message please visit my website at http://schumer.senate.gov/... . Thank you.
Update, 5/15/10: Tier 5 Unemployment Case Study: Marjorie From Arizona(that's me). Maybe this will go viral, and Congress will listen.
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Update 5/18/2010: I'm amazed. Previous experience shows my internet provider shuts me down the very day I become two payments behind -- which has happened twice before.
Yesterday was that day.
Whew! Reprieved! Don't know how long it will last, but I'm happy about it.
Rechecked my bill and it may last til the end of the month.
Somebody "up there" in internet-providerland likes me. :)
Update 5/27/2010 Update: I'm writing this from the local NACOG office
We've been evicted for not being able to pay rent, and have to be out of our house by midnight, Sunday, May 30th.
The good news -- my husband has finally gotten enough work from the local day-labor office to get our car running and insured. So at least we'll be mobile.
Update 6/1/2010 -- We have now lost our rental home and are living in our car. The car is legal, and all we need now is the alternator fixed. Meanwhile, we have a friend who is letting us charge our battery.
Sat Jul 14, 2012 at 12:40 PM PT: Update, 7/14/012
I FINALLY got my Soc.Sec.Disability in May of last year. With my settlement, I bought a used !983 motor home. In it, my husband and I are set up in a trailer park, with the motor home as our primary (only) residence. In fact, when we have to go to town for groceries and/or doctor appts, it's our only vehicle. Lol - you can guess we don't go out much.
About a month ago, I finally found a wi-fi internet network I can afford.