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The
Toledo Blade
43,000 in
Mich., 40,000 Ohioans to
lose unemployment benefits
By Marlene Harris-Taylor
WASHINGTON
— Democrats lost a
battle in Washington on Thursday but vowed to keep fighting for an
extension of
benefits for workers unemployed longer than 26 weeks.
The
federal emergency unemployment
benefits program expires Dec. 28 and nearly 40,000 Ohioans and 43,000
long-term
unemployed in Michigan are set to lose these jobless benefits. Congress
passed
a budget deal on Thursday that does not include a provision to pay for
additional emergency unemployment benefits.
Although
several Democrats in the
House and Senate are pushing for action this year to fund an extension,
it's
unlikely since lawmakers are scheduled to head home today for the
holiday
season.
Curtis
Houston, 42, is one of the
nearly 2,400 people in Lucas County who will no longer be eligible to
receive
the federal emergency employment assistance. Mr. Houston was laid off
from his
job at PTI Quality Containment Solutions about eight months ago and has
exhausted his Ohio jobless benefits
The
first 26 weeks in Ohio, known
as state benefits, are funded by taxing employers. However, Ohioans
were
eligible for a maximum of 63 weeks of benefits, 37 of which were paid
for by
federal funding.
Mr.
Houston, who received his last
Ohio weekly benefit check of $123 around Thanksgiving, will have to
rely solely
on part-time wages he earns at a janitorial company, Toledo Building
Services,
to help support his family.
“We
clean up the Huntington Center
after big events and hockey games,” he said. “In the past two weeks I
might
have worked 15 hours.”
Mr.
Houston lives with his
girlfriend and their two children in Toledo. His girlfriend works but
he said
the family is struggling and that he recently turned to local churches
for food
assistance.
“Me,
myself, I like to work and I
don’t think unemployment is something to really live off. It’s just
something
to help you until you can do better, but yes, I believe it’s still
necessary
for people in my shape,” he said.
Mr.
Houston initially thought he
would be called back to work at PTI, a subcontractor for General
Motors. He
made $8.50 an hour inspecting parts that came in from numerous
suppliers before
those parts were shipped next door to the Powertrain transmission plant
on
Alexis Road.
Those
hopes were dashed, however,
in August when the company shut down for good. In the meantime, he has
been
attending workshops at The Source, trying to improve his resume, and
looking
for a full-time job.
“There
is still a large number of
unemployed people. If they got programs that’s gonna help people get
back into
the work force and be able to take care of their family, then that’s
different.
I think they are starting to have programs to help people get back in
the
workforce but like Obama said, we also have to create our own
businesses and
start giving services to the public,” Mr. Houston said.
U.S.
Representatives Marcy Kaptur
(D., Toledo) and Sander Levin (D., Mich.) were part of a group of House
Democrats who made a last-ditch effort to get a three-month extension
of the
unemployment benefits in the budget package.
Miss
Kaptur said the unemployment
rate in half of the 88 counties in Ohio is above the national average,
which is
currently 7 percent...
Read
the rest of the article at the
Toledo Blade
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