About 7,000 Mainers might lose their unemployment benefits
If Congress does not decide upon the extension of unemployment benefits soon, then an estimate of 7,000 unemployed people in Maine might lose their unemployment insurance. As per Christopher St.John of the Maine Center for the Economic Policy, this number might go up to 30,000 by November if Congress does not take any action.
For more details on the unemployment claims of Maine, please refer Maine unemployment guide.
“There are over 57,000 people unemployed in Maine and they need this help, but the whole state economy needs this kind of investment to create more jobs and to restore prosperity,” St. John says.
Now the fact that if Congress needs to extend the unemployment benefits beyond the usual 26 weeks has been a matter of debate in the nation.
“Like 29 other states, Maine’s Legislature finalized the state budget for state fiscal 2011 with the expectation that the extension of these funds would be passed in Congress,” says Ana Hicks of Maine Equal Justice Partners.
The labor groups have been pressurizing the Congress to pass the so-called tax-extender bill. According to news reports, the Maine State Employees Association, the country’s largest public employee and health care workers union, is launching ads targeting senators such as Maine’s moderate Republicans, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
Many experts believe that the country has to pay for the extended unemployment benefits as it is going through a bad patch in economy and the unemployed people really need help now.
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