More than 230,000 jobless Americans will lose their unemployment insurance by this weekend as reductions in the federal program that provides extended benefits to the long-term unemployed take broader effect.
The new round of reductions is hitting eight states this month, meaning that about 400,000 long-term unemployed Americans in 27 states will have been cut off of the federal government’s extended unemployment benefits program this year, according to an analysis by the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for the unemployed.
The cuts stem from a congressional agreement this year that will reduce the maximum duration of unemployment benefits from 99 weeks to 79 weeks as the nation’s jobless rate declines.
Most states provide 26 weeks of benefits, and the federal government provides the rest, partially through a complicated formula that requires jobless rates to be both high and increasing to reach the benefit limit.
But the nation’s jobless rate has been steadily declining — from 9.1 percent in August, to 8.1 percent last month — causing the maximum benefit period to contract in most states. The extended benefits were reauthorized in February, but efforts by some Democratic lawmakers to adjust the formula in a way that would have kept the 99-week limit intact were unsuccessful.
What the ....... ? Does no one know how to write anymore? It isn't the loss of "unemployment INSURANCE" to which this idiot refers, it's the MONEY. And what "congressional agreement"? Was there legislation? What was it?
Oh yeah, *some* Dems were unsuccessful, so, guess who will be getting the blame?
LINK -- H/T Hot Air
I imagine these people will just be dropped off the radar of unemployment numbers totals as well. "Look! The unemployment rate is going down!"
