Renew EDD's benefits now - Send message to your congress

Dear friend,

Congress narrowly averted cutting off millions of Americans from unemployment insurance when it passed a stopgap two-month extension just before the holidays. But that extension is set to expire at the end of February, so millions of unemployed workers are again at risk of losing their federal unemployment insurance -- unless Congress acts to fully renew the program through 2012.

You would think that a simple enough task, right?

But right now, a 20-member Congressional conference committee is set to take that up -- and House Republicans are expected to push for drastic cuts in benefits and draconian new barriers to jobless workers' access to unemployment insurance.

Send an urgent message to all 20 members of the Congressional conference committee. Tell them: Fully Renew Unemployment Insurance for 2012 -- No Cuts, No Barriers to Benefits!

Among reckless and mean-spirited measures being pushed under the guise of "reform" by House Republicans in their version of H.R. 3630:

• Slashing federal unemployment insurance, cutting benefits more than half in highest unemployment states
• Imposing mandatory drug testing of unemployment insurance claimants
• Making jobless workers pay for their reemployment services
• Denying benefits to workers who were not fortunate enough to finish high school or GED
• Letting states reduce benefits and divert unemployment benefit funds to other uses

Send an urgent message to all 20 members of the Congressional conference committee. Tell them: Fully Renew Unemployment Insurance for 2012 -- No Cuts, No Barriers to Benefits.

Check out our new cartoon on the threats to unemployment insurance posed by the House Republicans' measures:

To view a larger, hi-resolution version click here.

Prior to the holidays, tens of thousands of you helped send earlier messages to Congress and made thousands of calls -- all of which helped keep the House leaders' drastic cuts and barriers to benefits from being brought up in the Senate. Right now, we need a massive remobilization to finish the job -- and send a message that says we must not only renew unemployment insurance through 2012, but also provide real meaningful job programs and reemployment tools for all the many millions of unemployed workers, including those who have exhausted federal unemployment insurance.

Please send an urgent message to all 20 members of the Congressional conference committee. Tell them: Fully Renew Unemployment Insurance for 2012 -- No Cuts, No Barriers to Benefits.

Many thanks.

The UnemployedWorkers.Org Team

Mitchell, Chris, Maurice, Judy, Christine, Rebecca, Mike, Rick, George, Claire and Norman

www.Unemployedworkers.org