U.S. HOUSE English proposes a continuation of unemployment-pay program

By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, thinks jobless workers who have exhausted or nearly exhausted their unemployment benefits should get additional help. He also thinks the federal government should stop taxing those benefits.
English, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Monday that he has introduced legislation to deal with both issues.
His Neighbors In Need Act would continue the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act (TEUC), add an additional benefit period to the program, and ban the IRS from levying income taxes on benefits for two years.
The plan would probably cost more than $10 billion, but the congressman said there is more than enough surplus in the federal unemployment compensation account to cover it.
"We've already taxed people to provide this money. I don't think it should sit in an account," he said, suggesting a better use for it would be to extend benefits.
The TEUC program, which already provides an extra 13 weeks of federal unemployment benefits on top of the state's 26-week program, is set to expire Dec. 31. English's bill would extend that program deadline to March 31, 2004, for states with high unemployment rates.
A state could be classified as having high unemployment if it has a jobless rate of at least 3.5 percent.
His bill would add eight additional weeks of benefits to help those who have exhausted their state and federal TEUC benefits.
Finally, it would place a two-year moratorium on the taxation of unemployment benefits, retroactive to January 2003.
English said as many as 80,000 Pennsylvanians have exhausted their benefits but unemployment remains high in the Keystone State. Pennsylvania's unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent in August.
"At a time when so many Americans are struggling with unemployment, it is obscene to pile on those who are collecting unemployment benefits by requiring them to pay taxes on the limited benefits they receive," English said.
The congressman said he hopes to get the issue before Congress for a vote this fall.
gwin@vindy.com