U.S. CONGRESS English will introduce bill that extends aid to jobless

Currently, unemployment benefits expire after 26 weeks.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, said he plans to introduce legislation in January to extend federal aid to the unemployed.
English, speaking Thursday at the Mercer County Career Link Center here, said his bill would provide funding to extend current unemployment benefits, which expire after 26 weeks.
Three tiers
His Help America's Workers Act will offer a three-tier expansion of benefits.
First, it will reauthorize the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation program, which provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits for unemployed people who exhaust their regular 26 weeks of state compensation. Without reauthorization, the TEUC program expires Dec. 28 of this year. English's bill would bring this back through June 1, 2003.
Second, it will provide an extra 26 weeks of federal assistance in states qualifying as areas of high unemployment. English said both Pennsylvania and Ohio would likely fall into that category.
Third, it will provide an additional six weeks of TEUC benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular TEUC benefits without finding employment.
English said the proposal will cost between $3 billion and $4 billion a year but that the government already has the money. It will come from funds earmarked for unemployment assistance, he said.
Disappointed
The congressman said he is disappointed that the Senate failed to pass an extension of TEUC. The House approved an extension but the Senate failed to act, he said.
He predicted that the White House will back his bill and is hopeful that Congress could act on it in early January.
Time is important because 35,000 Pennsylvanians now on unemployment face the end of their unemployment benefits on Dec. 28, English said.
Unemployment has topped 6 percent nationally but northwestern Pennsylvania has been hit harder with unemployment reaching 9 percent in some areas, English said.
The jobless rate in Mercer County stands at 3.8 percent, and the rate is 5.5 percent in Lawrence County.