Bellows Supports New Senate Bill to Extend Unemployment Insurance, Calls on Collins to Offer Public Support Without Delay
Press Release
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Shenna Bellows today announced her support for the newly introduced Senate bill to extend unemployment insurance benefits to long-term unemployed Americans and called on her opponent, Republican Susan Collins, to say whether she supports the bill before the Senate takes a vote.
Bellows said she considers the bill a step Congress needs to take in the short term to get emergency assistance to those who need it badly. She also called for a restoration of the Recovery Act's full 99-week benefits for the long-term unemployed, highlighting the 4,000 Mainers who have been without income assistance since Congress allowed benefits to expire on Dec. 28, 2013.
Collins voted to filibuster the bipartisan Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act on Jan. 14, preventing the bill from coming to a vote.
Extending unemployment benefits is good for the economy and can even create new jobs, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute: "Extended benefits keep people actively searching for work instead of dropping out of the labor force entirely. And unemployment insurance is some of the most efficient economic stimulus there is. If we go all of 2014 without renewing benefits, the drag on the economy will likely cost us roughly 310,000 jobs over the year."
Yesterday's bill was introduced by Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nevada), the authors of the earlier bill Collins filibustered. Collins has not signed on as a cosponsor of the new version. In April, she supported a version of unemployment insurance renewal that would have created a new benefit eligibility assessment process.
"Unemployed Mainers reeling from mill and factory shutdowns need leadership from Congress," Bellows said. "I support this bipartisan bill because it's the best way to sustain families while they put their lives back together and find new jobs. I call on Republican Susan Collins to join this effort immediately to support workers and their families."
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