Send Today!

* First Name

* Last Name

* Email Address

Street Address

City

State

* ZIP

* required

Text alerts are optional, but a great way to stay up-to-date with MomsRising on the go!

Get SMS Alerts Standard text message charges may apply

Not ? Click here.

Tell Your Friends About This Campaign

Enter email addresses separated by commas.
Click here to preview or add a note to your message to friends.

Subject: Don't let Congress roll back our economic recovery! Your message to friends:

Dear Friend,

Imagine that your two-year-old son is diagnosed with Leukemia. You think it can't get any worse and then your husband loses his job. Now, six months later he's still desperately trying to find work and Congress is cutting off his unemployment benefits--despite the fact that there are still five applicants for every available job in this country.

That's what's happening to Autumn, a MomsRising member from West Virginia, and to 2.1 million other Americans in similarly desperate situations who have been cut off from their unemployment insurance benefits.

Members of Congress are returning to Washington D.C. this week after their 4th of July break. Tell them that failing to extend unemployment insurance and fiscal relief to the states is driving millions of families to the edge and threatening the economic recovery for all of us.

http://action.momsrising.org/cms/letter/UI_2010-7-13/?source=taf

What's happening?

Before Congress adjourned for their July 4th break, 38 Senators voted against extending unemployment insurance, leaving unemployment insurance benefits to lapse for an estimated 2.1 million Americans.

Alleged "deficit hawks" in Congress are arguing that we can't afford to keep millions of families afloat. However, the "deficit hawk" argument doesn't fly with families on Main Street. In fact, letting families go into economic free fall hurts our economic recovery. With 14.6 million people still unemployed and the national unemployment rates hovering at 9.5 percent, this is no time to threaten our nascent economic recovery by throwing millions more people into foreclosure and bankruptcy. Indeed, Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com estimated that every dollar of unemployment benefits generates $1.63 in economic growth. [1]

Even Bill Bixby, the president of the Concord Coalition, an organization dedicated to educating the public about the nation's deficit, was recently quoted in the Boston Globe saying, "As a deficit hawk, I wouldn't worry about extending unemployment benefits. It's not going to add to the long-term structural deficit and it does address a serious need. I just feel like unemployment benefits wandered onto the wrong street corner at the wrong time, and now they are getting mugged." [2]

And, indeed, most Americans agree. In a recent poll conducted by the National Employment Law Project, 74 percent of Americans agree that it's not time for Congress to cut back on benefits, even in light of the deficit. [3]

So what is Congress waiting for? On behalf of Autumn and millions of families like hers, take a quick second to send a letter to Congress telling them to make extending unemployment insurance and fiscal relief to the states their first order of business this week.

http://action.momsrising.org/cms/letter/UI_2010-7-13/?source=taf

Thanks!

P.S. To read Autumn's story and stories from hundreds of other MomsRising members who are struggling because of jobs lost in this recession and to add your own: http://www.momsrising.org/all-stories?source=taf

[1] Mark Zandi, The Economic Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Moody's Economy.com, January 21, 2009
http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/Economic_Stimulus_House_Plan_012109.pdf

[2] Scot Lehigh, Go Long, Senator Brown, Boston Globe, July 7, 2010
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/07/07/go_long_senator_brown/

[3] New Poll Finds 74% of Americans Think Congress Should Continue Health Subsidy & Jobless Benefits, National Employment Law Project, June 7, 2010
http://www.nelp.org/page/-/UI/NELPSURVEYPRJune2010.pdf

Add a short note (optional, up to 500 characters):

We'll keep you posted via email on this and other MomRising.org campaigns

Don't let Congress roll back our economic recovery!

Before Congress adjourned for their July 4th break, 38 Senators voted against extending unemployment insurance, leaving unemployment insurance benefits to lapse for an estimated 2.1 million Americans.

Failing to extend unemployment insurance and fiscal relief to the states is driving millions of families to the edge and threatening the economic recovery for all of us. Tell Congress to make extending unemployment insurance and fiscal relief to the states their first order of business this week.

Dear Legislator,
 
As one of over a million members of MomsRising, I'm writing to urge you to make extending unemployment insurance, COBRA, and fiscal relief to the states your first order of business this week.  2.1 million Americans have been cut off from the unemployment benefits that have been keeping their families afloat in this difficult economy.  Over the last few weeks hundreds of MomsRising members have shared their struggles to find jobs and provide for their families  -- members like Autumn whose two year old son was diagnosed with Leukemia and husband then lost his job.  She and her family are among the millions of Americans who have been cut off from unemployment benefits just when they need them the most.  You can read Autumn's and hundreds of other stories from MomsRising members across the nation here: http://www.momsrising.org/all-stories
 
I hear that some in Congress are arguing that we can't afford to keep millions of families afloat.  However, with 14.6 million people still unemployed and the national unemployment rates hovering at 9.5 percent, this is no time to threaten our nascent economic recovery by throwing millions more people into foreclosure and bankruptcy.  Indeed, Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com estimated that every dollar of unemployment benefits generates $1.63 in economic growth.
 
Even Bill Bixby, the president of the Concord Coalition, an organization dedicated to educating the public about the nation's deficit, was recently quoted in the Boston Globe saying, "As a deficit hawk, I wouldn't worry about extending unemployment benefits.  It's not going to add to the long-term structural deficit and it does address a serious need.  I just feel like unemployment benefits wandered onto the wrong street corner at the wrong time, and now they are getting mugged."
 
And, indeed, most Americans agree.  In a recent poll conducted by the National Employment Law Project, 74 percent of Americans agree that it's not time for Congress to cut back on benefits, even in light of the deficit.
 
Failing to extend unemployment insurance and fiscal relief to the states is driving millions of families to the edge and threatening the economic recovery for all of us.  Please stand up for all of America's families by extending unemployment insurance, COBRA, and fiscal relief to the states.
 
Sincerely,

G-FKC1JKZLDL

Privacy Policy (the basics): We do not share the information you've given us with unaffiliated groups without your explicit permission. For petitions, letters to the editor, and surveys you've signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state, and comments as public information. We will not make your street address publicly available, but we may transmit it to members of Congress, the President, or other targets specifically noted on the signup page. We will send you updates on this and other important campaigns by email. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from our email list, you may do so. For our complete privacy policy, click here.

MomsRising.org

Don't let Congress roll back our economic recovery!