{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://payne.house.gov/press-release/payne-urges-speaker-boehner-bring-unemployment-insurance-extension", "Payne Urges Speaker Boehner to Bring Up Unemployment Insurance Extension", "2013-12-11", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "NJ", "Donald Payne", "P000604", "payne.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. (NJ-10) joined 165 House Democrats today in a letter urging Speaker John Boehner not to adjourn the House for the year without bringing up an extension of federal unemployment insurance, which is scheduled to expire December 28. \u00a0If federal unemployment insurance expires, it will immediately cut off all jobless aid to 1.3 million Americans, with an additional 1.9 million Americans who would lose eligibility for coverage in the first half of 2014. \u00a0In New Jersey, it means more than 90,300 people will cease to receive unemployment insurance almost immediately, with an additional 89,100 losing such benefits in the first six months of 2014.\u00a0 For a state-by-state breakdown of the effects, click here. One hundred and sixty-six House Democrats today are sending the following letter to Speaker Boehner urging him to immediately bring up an extension of federal unemployment insurance and to not adjourn the House for the year until he does:\nDecember 11, 2013\nThe Honorable John Boehner  \n\tSpeaker, U.S. House of Representatives  \n\tH232, U.S. Capitol  \n\tWashington, DC 20515\nDear Speaker Boehner:\nWe write to urge you to address the looming expiration of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans before adjourning Congress for the remainder of the year.\u00a0 Without swift Congressional action, 1.3 million jobless workers will have their benefits cut off on December 28th, and nearly another 1.9 million will lose their unemployment benefits over the first half of next year.\u00a0\u00a0 This would not only be a devastating blow for millions of Americans who are already struggling, but it would also hurt our economy.\nThe Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program is scheduled to immediately and completely stop at the end of 2013, during the holiday season, with the last payable week ending on December 28th.\u00a0 All current EUC beneficiaries will lose their benefits, and individuals exhausting their limited state unemployment benefits will no longer be eligible for EUC benefits in 2014.\u00a0 This cutoff will affect over 3 million Americans over the next six months, and thereby also negatively impact our economic growth. In fact, recent estimates indicate that the expiration of the EUC program would cost our economy 310,000 jobs and drain roughly four-tenths of a percentage point from first-quarter economic growth.\nWhile unemployment benefits remain a critical lifeline for dislocated workers and their families, these benefits have recently been significantly scaled back.\u00a0 According to the Congressional Research Service, the total amount of weeks of unemployment benefits has dropped by more than a third across the states, and by more than 50 percent in some states, compared to two years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 Furthermore, the recipients have seen their weekly benefit payment provided by the EUC program cut under sequestration.\nEven with the progress our economy has seen since the depths of the recession, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs today than when the recession started six years ago. Additionally, approximately 4 million Americans are considered long-term unemployed, and have been looking for work for more than six months. Now is certainly not the time to further decimate vital federal assistance to workers who have lost their job through no fault of their own and who must actively seek work in order to be eligible for unemployment benefits.\u00a0\u00a0 We therefore strongly urge you to immediately bring up a one-year extension of the current EUC program.\nThank you for your attention to this critical issue.\nSincerely,\nSander Levin  \n\tBarbara Lee  \n\tLloyd Doggett  \n\tSteny H. Hoyer  \n\tJames Clyburn  \n\tXavier Becerra  \n\tJoe Crowley  \n\tSteve Israel  \n\tRobert Andrews  \n\tKaren Bass  \n\tJoyce Beatty  \n\tAmi Bera  \n\tSanford Bishop, Jr.  \n\tTim Bishop  \n\tEarl Blumenauer  \n\tSuzanne Bonamici  \n\tRobert A. Brady  \n\tBruce Braley  \n\tCorrine Brown  \n\tJulia Brownley  \n\tCheri Bustos  \n\tG.K. Butterfield  \n\tLois Capps  \n\tMichael Capuano  \n\tTony Cardenas  \n\tMatt Cartwright  \n\tJoaquin Castro  \n\tKathy Castor  \n\tDonna M. Christensen  \n\tJudy Chu  \n\tDavid Cicilline  \n\tYvette Clarke  \n\tWm. Lacy Clay  \n\tEmanuel Cleaver  \n\tSteve Cohen  \n\tJohn Conyers, Jr.  \n\tGerald E. Connolly  \n\tJim Cooper  \n\tJim Costa  \n\tJoe Courtney  \n\tElijah E. Cummings  \n\tDanny K. Davis  \n\tPeter DeFazio  \n\tDiana DeGette  \n\tJohn Delaney  \n\tRosa L. DeLauro  \n\tSuzan DelBene  \n\tTed Deutch  \n\tJohn D. Dingell  \n\tDonna F. Edwards  \n\tKeith Ellison  \n\tEliot L. Engel  \n\tWilliam Enyart  \n\tAnna Eshoo  \n\tElizabeth H. Esty  \n\tSam Farr  \n\tChaka Fattah  \n\tBill Foster  \n\tLois Frankel  \n\tMarcia L. Fudge  \n\tJohn Garamendi  \n\tAlan Grayson  \n\tAl Green  \n\tGene Green  \n\tRaul Grijalva  \n\tMichelle Lujan Grisham  \n\tLuis V. Gutierrez  \n\tJanice Hahn  \n\tColleen Hanabusa  \n\tAlcee L. Hastings  \n\tDenny Heck  \n\tBrian Higgins  \n\tJames A. Himes  \n\tRuben Hinojosa  \n\tRush Holt  \n\tMichael Honda  \n\tSteven Horsford  \n\tJared Huffman  \n\tHakeem S. Jeffries  \n\tHenry C. \"Hank\" Johnson, Jr.  \n\tMarcy Kaptur  \n\tWilliam Keating  \n\tJoseph P. Kennedy, III  \n\tDaniel Kildee  \n\tDerek Kilmer  \n\tRon Kind  \n\tAnn Kirkpatrick  \n\tAnn McLane Kuster  \n\tJames R. Langevin  \n\tJohn B. Larson  \n\tSheila Jackson Lee  \n\tJohn Lewis  \n\tDaniel Lipinski  \n\tDave Loebsack  \n\tAlan S. Lowenthal  \n\tNita Lowey  \n\tBen Ray Lujan  \n\tStephen F. Lynch  \n\tCarolyn Maloney  \n\tCarolyn McCarthy  \n\tBetty McCollum  \n\tJim McDermott  \n\tJames P. McGovern  \n\tPatrick E. Murphy  \n\tGrace F. Napolitano  \n\tGloria Negrete McLeod  \n\tRick Nolan  \n\tGregory Meeks  \n\tMichael H. Michaud  \n\tGeorge Miller  \n\tGwen Moore  \n\tJames P. Moran  \n\tJerrold Nadler  \n\tRichard E. Neal  \n\tEleanor Holmes Norton  \n\tBeto O\u2019Rourke  \n\tFrank Pallone, Jr.  \n\tBill Pascrell, Jr.  \n\tEd Pastor  \n\tDonald M. Payne, Jr.  \n\tEd Perlmutter  \n\tGary C. Peters  \n\tChellie Pingree  \n\tPedro R. Pierluisi  \n\tMark Pocan  \n\tDavid Price  \n\tMike Quigley  \n\tNick J. Rahall  \n\tCharles Rangel  \n\tCedric Richmond  \n\tLucille Roybal-Allard  \n\tC.A. Dutch Ruppersberger  \n\tBobby L. Rush  \n\tTim Ryan  \n\tLinda T. Sanchez  \n\tLoretta Sanchez  \n\tJohn P. Sarbanes  \n\tJanice D. Schakowsky  \n\tAdam B. Schiff  \n\tAllyson Y. Schwartz  \n\tBrad Sherman  \n\tRobert C. \"Bobby\" Scott  \n\tJose E. Serrano  \n\tTerri A. Sewell  \n\tCarol Shea-Porter  \n\tKyrsten Sinema  \n\tAlbio Sires  \n\tLouise M. Slaughter  \n\tJackie Speier  \n\tMark Takano  \n\tBennie Thompson  \n\tMike Thompson  \n\tJohn F. Tierney  \n\tDina Titus  \n\tPaul\u00a0 Tonko  \n\tMarc Veasey  \n\tNydia Vel\u00e1zquez  \n\tChris Van Hollen  \n\tJuan Vargas  \n\tDebbie Wasserman Schultz  \n\tMaxine Waters  \n\tMelvin L. Watt  \n\tHenry A. Waxman  \n\tPeter Welch  \n\tFrederica Wilson  \n\tJohn A. Yarmuth\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://payne.house.gov/press-release/payne-urges-speaker-boehner-bring-unemployment-insurance-extension"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.959115033969283, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}