Extend unemployment benefits: Call your Senators now

As people of faith, we are called to lift up our voices and take action on behalf for those who suffer from injustice.
 
 In this time of economic crisis <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=79JfQinv329Agvvy5bgty8zgg2spZQ2Y> , millions of our family members, friends, neighbors and members of our congregations face unbelievable hardships. Hunger, homelessness, foreclosures, loss of health care--and loss of hope--face many who want to work but can't find jobs. While some say the recession is ending, it will not end for working families, as the U.S. undergoes a jobless recovery <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=48BRa%2Bk1eQBVSWPtFDuIsczgg2spZQ2Y> . Millions have been unemployed for extended periods of time, and unemployment compensation and subsidies to allow unemployed workers to retain health coverage under the COBRA program have been a lifeline between hardship and ruin. 
 
 Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) is engaging in a one-man filibuster <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7TkStrUzPZMjS9PHEL2kUczgg2spZQ2Y>  to block extension of unemployment insurance and subsidized COBRA benefits. Legislation allowing states to provide extended benefits expired at the beginning of March. As many as 1.2 million workers will run out of unemployment and COBRA benefits this month if an emergency extension is not passed by Congress.
 
 Every senator has the responsibility to make sure that the Unemployment Insurance and COBRA programs get back up and running as quickly as possible.
 
 Call your two senators now. Call the Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) today and ask them to transfer you to your two senators.
 
Tell them they must take action. We cannot let the unemployed and their families fall through the cracks because of one senator's grandstanding effort in his final year of service. Tell your senators to stop the games and communicate to their party's leadership that they need to extend these programs through the end of the year, and that it needs to happen as quickly as possible. Each week of delay means that over 200,000 more workers will lose their benefits.
 
 Please forward this e-mail to your friends, family and colleagues. Please e-mail <mailto:tsmukler@iwj.org?subject=I%20called%20my%20senators%20to%20ask%20them%20to%20extend%20unemployment%20and%20COBRA>  me to let me know what the response was when you called.                                      
        
 In Peace and Justice,
 
 Ted Smukler
 Public Policy Director
 Interfaith Worker Justice