WASHINGTON – President Bush signed a bill Wednesday extending federal unemployment benefits for about 20,000 jobless people in Maryland, and about 2.5 million nationwide.
Bush signed the bill within hours of the House’s 416-4 vote Wednesday afternoon. The Senate passed the bill unanimously Tuesday.
In most states, including Maryland, the new measure gives jobless people as many as 13 more weeks of benefits. In three “high unemployment” states — Alaska, Oregon and Washington — the statute offers up to 26 extra weeks.
It comes not a moment too soon, said Tom Wendel, director of Maryland’s Office of Unemployment.
“These people need this money to keep their families fed and their mortgages paid,” he said.
Congress originally approved an extension of jobless benefits in March, while the country was still reeling from the Sept. 11 attacks and the economy was faltering. Since then, Wendel said his office has handed out about $70 million in additional aid.
When the program ended Dec. 28, about 10,000 people in Maryland and 750,000 nationwide lost what, for many, was their only income.
“We sent out letters and press releases to let people know,” the benefits were ending, Wendel said. “A lot of them called in and said thanks for telling me but it doesn’t do me any damn good.”
In addition to the 10,000 Marylanders who have already lost their extended benefits, the bill signed Wednesday will cover an estimated 10,000 other workers whose extended benefits were scheduled to run out by June.
Barring further action, the extended benefits program will end in June.
The bill passed Wednesday will not cover an estimated 1 million people who exhausted their standard and temporary benefits and are still unemployed.
More than 130 Democrats backed a substitute bill Tuesday to cover those 1 million unemployed workers. But that proposal failed on a largely party-line vote, with Republican leaders arguing that the 1 million workers “Democrats refer to . . . have already received federal extended benefits.”
The Republicans “only have so much compassion to go around,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville, in a prepared statement.
After the substitute measure failed, the House overwhelmingly backed the GOP version. All eight members of Maryland’s House delegation voted for it.
Most states expected Congress to pass a new bill and continued taking claims, said Jessica Goldberg, an unemployment analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“There shouldn’t be a major interruption of checks,” she said. “Workers cut off Dec. 28 will go on receiving their remaining weeks.”
Checks in Maryland could be mailed as early as Thursday morning.
“We have everything set up and ready to roll,” Wendel said. “We’re getting tons of calls already asking, `Where the hell’s my check?'”