The Serrano Report, Volume X, #27

On Capitol Hill

Serrano Joins Democrats in Demanding Extension of Unemployment Insurance

On Wednesday, December 11th, Congressman Serrano, along with 173 of his Democratic colleagues sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner urging him allow a vote on an extension of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program. The program will expire on December 28, 2013. As a result of the program’s expiration, 1.3 million jobless workers will have their benefits cut and another 1.9 million will exhaust their limited state unemployment benefits and will no longer be eligible for EUC benefits in 2014. Unfortunately, the Speaker did not allow a vote on the extension of EUC and Republicans sent Congress home without addressing this issue.  

The full text of the letter is below.

December 11, 2013

The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
H232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner:

We write to urge you to address the looming expiration of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans before leaving for the year.  Without swift Congressional action, 1.3 million jobless workers will have their benefits cut off on December 28th, and nearly another 1.9 million will lose their unemployment benefits over the first half of next year.   This would not only be a devastating blow for millions of Americans who are already struggling, but it would also hurt our economy.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program is scheduled to immediately and completely stop at the end of 2013, during the holiday season, with the last payable week ending on December 28th. All current EUC beneficiaries will lose their benefits, and individuals exhausting their limited state unemployment benefits will no longer be eligible for EUC benefits in 2014. This cutoff will affect over 3 million Americans over the next six months, and thereby also negatively impact our economic growth. In fact, recent estimates indicate that the expiration of the EUC program would cost our economy 310,000 jobs and drain roughly four-tenths of a percentage point from first-quarter economic growth.

While unemployment benefits remain a critical lifeline for dislocated workers and their families, these benefits have recently been significantly scaled back.  According to the Congressional Research Service, the total amount of weeks of unemployment benefits has dropped by more than a third across the states, and by more than 50 percent in some states, compared to two years ago.   Furthermore, the recipients have seen their weekly benefit payment provided by the EUC program cut under sequestration.

Even with the progress our economy has seen since the depths of the recession, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs today than when the recession started six years ago. Additionally, approximately 4 million Americans are considered long-term unemployed, and have been looking for work for more than six months. Now is certainly not the time to further decimate vital federal assistance to workers who have lost their job through no fault of their own and who must actively seek work in order to be eligible for unemployment benefits. We therefore strongly urge you to immediately bring up a one-year extension of the current EUC program.

Thank you for your attention to this critical issue.

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Serrano Joins Democrats, Fast4Families Activists to Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

On Thursday, Congressman Serrano joined Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, other House Democrats, and immigration activists from the Fast4Families group at a press conference to call once again for comprehensive immigration reform. The Congressional Democrats saluted the brave activism of the advocates, some of whom fasted for 22 days.

Serrano at the immigration press conference

The Bronx

Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grant Announcement

Deadline: February 13, 2014  Please refer to the announcement, for additional submission information.

This grant solicits proposals from eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to deliver environmental workforce development and job training programs that recruit, train, and place local, unemployed and under-employed residents with the skills needed to secure full-time employment in the environmental field, with a focus on solid and hazardous waste remediation, environmental health and safety, and wastewater-related training. In Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14), EPA anticipates providing some funding preference to applicants who choose to deliver other types of environmental training, beyond brownfields hazardous waste, as referenced in Section I.B and as referenced in Section V.C.

Please follow this link for the full grant announcement: http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/grants/epa-oswer-oblr-14-01.pdf
For more information about other federal grants please visit <http://www.grants.gov> .