As of this week, not only do COBRA benefits subsidies hang in the balance, so do jobless benefits, which are also due to expire soon. According to the Florida Sun Sentinel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is struggling to find a way to extend unemployment benefits.
The current extension expired as of today.
Today, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will ask Sen. Bunning to drop his filibuster. If he is not successful, the Senate will have to initiate parliamentary actions to work around Bunning, but which will take time and possibly still cause a loss in benefits for those who count on them.
If the current benefits are not extended, unemployed workers would continue receiving the basic 26 weeks of benefits and would be able to complete whatever tier of extended benefits they have entered. They will not be able to enter a new tier. The uncertainty surrounding benefits has made providing consistent services to the unemployed very difficult for state agencies. “State agencies are in absolute turmoil right now,” July Conti, of the National Employment Law Project, told the Sun Sentinel. “They are trying to keep things running. If there’s a lapse, it will be a nightmare.”
The House is expected to quickly approve this stopgap measure if it passes the Senate.
Related Resources:
- Unemployment benefit extension stalled in Senate (Florida Sun Sentinel)
- How does a worker apply for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits? (FindLaw)
- Unemployment Benefits Extended by the House (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
- Unemployment Benefits Extended: Obama Signs Bill (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
- How Unemployment Insurance Works (provided by Law Office of Julie Johnson, PLLC)
You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help
Civil Rights
Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
Criminal
Judges Can Release Secret Grand Jury Records
Politicians Can’t Block Voters on Facebook, Court Rules
