Will Congress Turn Its Back on Katrina-Rita Survivors?

by James Parks, May 25, 2006

Unless Congress acts before it leaves for a holiday recess Friday, 80,000 survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita who lost their jobs in the storms will start to lose their unemployment benefits. The workers and their families need this support, although it averages only $104 per week.

Since March 1, some 60,000 Katrina and Rita survivors have left the jobless rolls. Those who remain are the ones having the hardest time recovering. Since the hurricanes struck nine months ago, the federal government has consistently failed to step in with a robust recovery program that could help get people back to work.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has introduced legislation (S. 3030) calling for an extension of the disaster unemployment benefits. Yesterday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) urging him to move a similar bill (H.R. 5392) that was introduced in the House last week.

In a May 24 editorial, The New York Times, explained why approving the unemployment assistance is critical:

Most of the unemployed are Katrina victims who are still living outside Louisiana. The argument that their jobless benefits are a disincentive to work is absurd, as well as heartless. The average benefit is $104 a week—and that is for people who lost everything and, in many cases, loved ones only nine months ago.

It’s distressing that lawmakers even need to be prodded to provide additional relief. Since their last recess, their biggest  “achievement” has been a two-year extension of investor tax cuts, worth nearly $51 billion, for America’s wealthiest families. Yet those same lawmakers are now running out the clock on unemployment benefits for some of America’s neediest families. The estimated cost for a 13-week extension is $125 million.

Financing for the additional benefits is already built into the overall disaster budget, so it requires no special appropriation. All that is needed is for lawmakers to pass the measure—before their next paid vacation

Act now. Urge your representatives in Congress to extend the disaster unemployment assistance for hurricane survivors before it expires.

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