Ask Congress to support the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act!

To be an effective safety net, Unemployment Insurance needs to be updated to meet 21st century economic demands on families. Ask your Congressional Representatives to include the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act in the American Recovery and Reinvestment plan proposed by Congress and President-Elect Obama.

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As a member of MomsRising.org, I’m writing to express my full support for including the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (UIMA), HR 290, in the American Recovery and Reinvestment plan proposed by Congress and President-Elect Obama.  Far too many women and working mothers are unfairly excluded from the unemployment insurance system because of outdated eligibility rules that were promulgated for the workforce of the Great Depression.  
 
For example, in the majority of states, mothers who are jobless and seeking part-time, rather than full-time, work because of their need to balance work and family obligations are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits.  Similarly, parents who need to leave their jobs because of compelling family circumstances like a spouse’s mandatory job transfer, or to escape from domestic violence, are also excluded from the unemployment safety net.  Finally, low-wage workers, the vast majority of whom are women, are twice as likely to lose their jobs, but only 1/3 as likely to be able to collect unemployment benefits because of outdated rules that do not count their most recent wages in eligibility determinations.
 
During a time in which workers will be increasingly reliant on unemployment benefits, we must do everything we can to incentivize states to reform and modernize their unemployment programs so that the many people who are unemployed through no fault of their own are covered by this social safety net.  The workers pay into the system while they work; it is only fair that they receive the protections of the system when facing periods of joblessness.  It also goes a long way to help stimulate the economy when workers spend their benefits on basic necessities in their community.
 
Please support the inclusion of the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act in the Economic Recovery legislation.  We need to act quickly to provide incentives to states to fix their broken and outdated unemployment insurance programs as quickly as possible, so as to protect as many workers and their families as possible during this long and deep economic recession.
 
Sincerely,