Republicans must stop playing politics with unemployment benefits (Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand)

This week my colleagues and I will try again to extend the badly
needed payments for another 13 weeks. It is my hope that Republicans
will drop their obstruction and join with us to extend unemployment
benefits to tens of thousands of hardworking Americans.

With almost 14 million people unemployed around the country, the
U.S. unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent; right here in New
York, it’s 8.9% and 10.3% in New York City. Without an extension, tens
of thousands of New Yorkers and about a million of our long-term
unemployed nationwide will lose benefits by the end of the year. We
must not allow this to happen, especially as the holidays approach. As
our economic recovery continues to take shape, it’s crucial that we not
forget about those families who are hurting the most, still struggling
to find work in a very difficult job market.

When I travel throughout New York, I speak to many who are
struggling. They tell me how hard they are looking for jobs, that there
simply aren’t any. When there is a job opening, hundreds of applicants
show up and line up around the block for a chance to get hired. These
are hard working people who would much prefer to work to put food on
their table rather than accept a check from the government. But until
our economy recovers to a point where it’s creating jobs at a
sustainable pace, we must step in to help.

Extending unemployment benefits is not only the morally right thing
to do, it is good economic policy in a recession. These unemployment
benefits not only put money in the hands of those that need it most,
but they are immediately stimulative to the economy, as families use
the funds for the most critical needs.

So far this year in New York alone, 70,000 people in the
Rochester/Finger Lakes region have collected unemployment benefits, 78%
of whom relied on those benefits for their basic necessities; in the
Hudson Valley region, more than 90,000 collected the benefits, 68% of
whom relied on that income for their basic needs; more than 125,000
Long Island residents collected unemployment benefits, 76% of whom
relied on that money to support their families; and in New York City,
nearly 400,000 people collected unemployment benefits, 67% of whom
relied on that money for their basic needs.

The job market is historically the last step of an economic
recovery, forcing the unemployed to bear the brunt of the recession the
longest and making it increasingly difficult to find new work. It’s
simply unfair and unreasonable to ask them to bear this burden without
assistance, and I hope Republicans will stop obstructing and join us in
helping our fellow Americans in their time of need.

Cross-posted from The Huffington Post.