Letter to Rick Snyder, Governor, State of Michigan

Letter

Michigan's Democratic U.S. Congressional delegation, in a joint letter to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday, urged him to veto HB 4408, legislation that would cut state unemployment insurance in Michigan from 26 weeks to 20 weeks and turn back the clock on 50 years of needed protections for the unemployed. The legislation passed the State House and Senate Wednesday and would leave Michigan as the only state in the country that provides its workers fewer than 26 weeks of UI benefits. It could hardly come at a worse time, with Michigan's unemployment still above 10 percent.

The letter was signed by the entire Democratic delegation, including U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow and U.S. Reps. Hansen Clarke, John Conyers, John Dingell, Dale Kildee, Sander Levin and Gary Peters.

The full copy of the letter is below:

March 28, 2011

Dear Governor Snyder:

We the undersigned members of the Michigan Congressional delegation are writing to urge you to veto HB 4408, which would permanently cut state unemployment benefits for Michigan's unemployed workers from 26 weeks to 20 weeks and turn back the clock on 50 years of needed protections for the unemployed in Michigan.

This permanent change to Michigan's law was a completely unnecessary addition to legislation to temporarily change the look-back provision from 2 years to 3 years so that State law conforms to Federal law for the remainder of this year.

Under the legislation passed by the State House and State Senate March 23, Michigan would be the only state to have 20 weeks of State unemployment insurance and the first state to reduce benefits during a period of high unemployment. These are two distinctions we do not want for our State.

While both the Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits program run though the end of the year, there is absolutely no guarantee they will be extended when the State cuts kick in next January. For the first time in 50 years unemployed workers will have only 20 weeks of unemployment benefits while they seek new jobs.

Even if the Federal program is extended in some form, the State cut would result in a double benefit cut. Federal unemployment programs (Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits) are based on a percentage of the underlying state benefits. As a result, if the current 2011 program is extended into 2012 under the same conditions, federal benefits would be reduced by an additional 16 weeks in Michigan. This would mean that workers would be facing a total loss of 22 weeks of benefits.

To put this in perspective: In 2010, over 171,000 individuals drew more than 20 weeks of regular UI benefits, with 130,000 of these drawing 26 weeks.

The unemployment insurance program is a vital lifeline to workers and their families. The average weekly benefit is only $297 and allows families to put food on the table and stay in their homes.

As we all know, this has been an unprecedented economic recession in our State. The recession, the financial collapse and the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler have made recovery from the deep job loss very difficult for our State. Even as we begin to turn the corner, we know that families are struggling to stay afloat, especially those thrown out of work through no fault of their own.

We appreciate and hold a deep concern about our long-term federal deficit and Michigan's unemployment debt to the federal government. We can and must take steps to reduce the deficit, fix the state insolvency problem. At the same time, we must further stimulate job creation, support individuals and families climbing out of this deep recession -- which has been particularly devastating in Michigan -- and invest in our future.

We encourage you to veto HB 4408 and call on the State legislature to send you legislation that simply makes the required technical correction that can easily be done by April 1, 2011.