Gov. Perdue Urges Congress to Extend Unemployment Benefits

Press Release

Warns Against Abandoning Hard-Working Americans

Gov. Bev Perdue and 15 other governors are calling on Congress to extend federal unemployment benefits and protect the millions of Americans who did what they were supposed to -- worked hard and contributed to their communities -- but were laid off.

"Now is not the time to turn our backs on hard-working Americans," Gov. Perdue and the other governors wrote in a letter to congressional leaders late last week. "Individuals who are laid off through no fault of their own rely on these funds to support their families."

Gov. Perdue's letter emphasizes that unemployment benefits are a critical part of helping the economy recover, not only as a lifeline to laid-off workers, but also because those benefits are immediately injected back into the economy.

The governors' letter to leaders of both parties reminded them that Congress has never failed to extend unemployment benefits when the national unemployment rate has exceeded 7.2 percent.

"We must not fail our citizens now," Gov. Perdue and the other governors wrote.

Source