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Bishop Supports Help to Unemployed Americans

July 22, 2010

Washington, DC – Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-2) announced today that the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, H.R. 4213, by a vote of 272 to 152. This emergency legislation will extend unemployment insurance benefits to millions of Americans through November 30, 2010, including 107,000 residents of the State of Georgia who have lost unemployment benefits as of July 17, 2010. The bill also will retroactively restore benefits to people who may have started losing their benefits as early as the end of May 2010. Congressman Bishop supported the legislation.

“We can’t turn our back on the millions of Americans who are still struggling to find meaningful employment as the economy recovers,” said Congressman Bishop. “We must never forget that there are real people behind the numbers. They are our friends and family members; our neighbors and our acquaintances. They sit next to us in church every Sunday and they stand in line with us at the grocery store. We must ensure that these Americans receive the help they need as they look for a new job.”

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on three previous occasions since May 28, 2010 to extend unemployment benefits through November 30, 2010. Each time, Congressman Bishop supported the measures while over 80% of House Republicans voted against extending the benefits. Republicans in the U.S. Senate also blocked for seven weeks the timely consideration of the unemployment insurance extension before finally approving it yesterday on a 59 to 39 vote. Today’s House passage now clears the way for the President to sign the bill into law.

“Our priorities should be to boost the economy and prevent people from dropping out of the labor force altogether,” said Congressman Bishop. “For those struggling to reenter the workforce, we need to bridge the gap, so that they have access to the essentials in life that we all need – food, shelter, and clothing.”

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