Following a U.S. Congress vote against extending unemployment insurance benefits, the White House officials said more than 11,000 Wisconsin jobs now hang in the balance.
A report from the White House Council of Economic Advisors estimated 11,165 jobs in Wisconsin are threatened if Congress does not approve a measure to extend unemployment insurance benefits.
The report added 126,565 Wisconsinites are set to lose benefits.
“Extending this support to those hardest hit by this crisis is not only the right thing to do, it’s the right economic policy,” CEA Chairman Austan Goolsbee said in a statement.
Allowing the insurance benefits to lapse will cause millions of Americans to fall into hardship and immediately hurt consumer spending, which is what will threaten jobs, Goolsbee added.
A report released last week from the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee also found the two million people across the country who are set to lose benefits will result in the loss of an additional 1 million jobs as the unemployed cut back on consumption.
Benefits officially expired Wednesday, two weeks after the House decided not to extend benefits until Feb. 28.
The bill to extend benefits fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass, with members of both parties voting against the measure, although more Republicans were in opposition.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis has also come out in support of extending the unemployment insurance.
“To those who are standing in the way of this extension, I say: the time to put politics aside is here. The welfare of millions is at stake,” Solis said in a statement.
Some members of Congress argued the extensions needed to be accomplished without raising taxes.
The unemployment insurance benefits were put into effect in 2008 as emergency compensation for unemployed Americans who were expected to have more difficulty finding work in the recession than during previous years.
According to the White House, these measures contributed to stabilizing the economy. Congress extended the measures until the unemployed population could receive up to 99 weeks of coverage in those states with the highest unemployment.
In Wisconsin, unemployed individuals could receive up to 20 weeks of insurance benefits, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
