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Posted on Fri, Nov. 22, 2002

Congress fails to extend unemployment benefits
By JAMES KUHNHENN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Nearly a million jobless workers will lose their unemployment benefits just days after Christmas this year, a date Congress was unable to extend because of disputes between the House of Representatives and Senate.

Congress adjourned its 107th session Friday, sending President Bush a homeland security bill but faltering in a last-ditch effort to help recession victims whose unemployment insurance is about to run out.

"The Congress is here insisting on playing Scrooge at Christmastime, when we should be showing a little mercy," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.
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Holidays dim for many in W.Va.




By CHARLES OWENS of the Daily Telegraph staff November 27, 2002




BLUEFIELD - The holiday season won't be very joyous this year for hundreds of West Virginians who will lose their jobless benefits next month because Congress failed to act on an extension.
About 2,500 West Virginians will be among nearly 1 million unemployed workers nationwide to lose their jobless benefits three days after Christmas because Congress failed to grant an extension before adjourning for the year.

Kenneth Dunford of Bluewell, who is among those who will lose their benefits on Dec. 28, said the region's unemployed workers have been ignored by their elected officials.


"It doesn't seem like our representatives care about the people anymore," Dunford said. "Don't get me wrong, I think we need to do something about Iraq and the terrorists, but I think we also need to take care of the people. I can understand why people don't want to vote anymore."


Dunford said he became unemployed when the company he worked for shut down.


"My company went bankrupt," Dunford said. "I didn't ask to be on unemployment."


Dunford said the local job market is not good, and he may be forced to leave the area to find new employment.


"I'm thinking about relocating to another state, " Dunford said. "That's all I can do."


Dunford said he is not facing the Dec. 28 deadline alone.


"I'm not the only one out there," he said. "There are thousands of people out there who will be without a job."


By March, the number of West Virginians left without benefits is expected to increase to 6,200, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C. By next March, it is estimated that more than two million people across the nation will be left without jobless benefits, the Associated Press reported.


Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed bills that would extend unemployment compensation, but neither side would pass the other's bill.


The bipartisan Senate bill would have maintained current benefits for unemployed people for another three months.


The House version would have cut the amount each family received and extended benefits for only five weeks.


- Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com 


©Bluefield Daily Telegraph 2002