The White House has been pushing hard this week on trying to get Congress to notice that extended unemployment benefits have expired, and that 2 million people who are already hurting are going to be in a much larger world of pain by the end of the year. To that end, the released a report yesterday detailing the extent to which the benefits extended into the economy.
Fourteen million people laid off through no fault of their own received benefits under the Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits programs that Congress allowed to lapse this week, and the White House Council of Economic Advisors estimates that "an additional 26 million people living in their households benefited indirectly."
The programs provide up to 73 weeks of federally-funded benefits for layoff victims who exhaust the standard 26 weeks provided by states. The average benefit is roughly $300.
About 42 percent of people receiving EUC or EB have or live with children, according to the Council. That means that as of October, more than 10 million children benefited from the programs, and three million children lived in households where the benefits recipient was the sole wage-earner.
Additionally, the Council reported that the economy had 800,000 more jobs and had grown 0.8 percent faster in September than would have been the case without the programs.
The Council estimates a 0.6 drop in economic growth by next December, along with roughly four million people running out of extended benefits by then. With stagnant job growth and a still sluggish economy, not having the extended unemployment benefits paid out doesn't just hurt the millions of people--and their children--who are losing them, it hurts the entire economy.
Which, of course, is the GOP plan, but one aided and abetted by Dems more focused on what the deficit will look like 20 years from now if old people aren't made to suffer by taking away part of their Social Security.