US Congress Slams Door on the Unemployed

On Wednesday, 800,000 unemployed US workers woke up in the morning having lost for most what is their only source of income—jobless benefit checks that average about $300 per week. By Christmas, another 1.2 million workers will follow them into the cashless economy, where they will join the far larger number of jobless workers who receive no benefits at all. Millions more will follow next year.

The cutoff came after Congress failed to reauthorize a program that extends jobless benefits beyond the 26 weeks afforded by most states. Leading Congressional Democrats have indicated that the benefits might not be restored for months, if ever.

The tossing of millions of workers—and through them millions more children—into abject desperation is by any measure a social catastrophe. Hunger, which preyed on 50 million Americans last year, will rise sharply. It is reported that soup kitchens and food pantries, already strained to the breaking point, are bracing for record demand. Homelessness and the foreclosure crisis will be exacerbated. Hundreds of thousands more families will lose their utilities in the midst of the winter heating season.'

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