PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Sen. Jack Reed is one of three U.S. senators who have introduced a bill to extend unemployment benefits through 2014.
The Rhode Island Democrat said in a news release Wednesday that the measure, co-sponsored by Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would prevent 1.3 million Americans from having their federal jobless benefits cut off.
The measure is known as the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2013. Similar legislation is being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.
The unemployment insurance system provides a temporary weekly benefit to qualified workers who lose their job and are seeking work. The amount of that benefit is based in part on a worker's past earnings.
Failure to preserve unemployment benefits will hurt 1.3 million American families who will be cut off at the end of the year, and nearly another 1.9 million Americans will be denied access to the emergency program during the first six months of next year, Reed said. If Congress does not renew the law, then people who file for unemployment next year will only qualify for state benefits, which last a maximum of 26 weeks.
Reed said that preserving unemployment insurance would help prevent 13,800 Rhode Island families from losing their benefits next year.