| WASHINGTON
- October 24 - Military action and bioterrorism are capturing headlines, but the economy is also in dangerous territory. Hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs in the wake of the September 11 terrorism and the worsening recession. But instead of decisive action to help these displaced workers and spur the economy, the bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee is the worst kind of trickery. Paying mostly lip service to the plight of laid-off workers and the call for national unity, House Republican leaders are like the magician who says "Watch this hand" while shamelessly using the other hand to dole out economic pork.
We all know that the travel and tourism industries have been hit hard, and according to the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union, one-third of its members have been laid off. But among the hardest hit are women in state Welfare-to-Work programs who were trained in large numbers for work in the hotel industry. What happens to one of these women when she is laid off?
What does she find waiting for her at home? Will she receive the unemployment benefits that her coworkers get? And if she reapplies for welfare assistance, whatever is left of her 5-year limit? Tick. Tick. Tick. Every tick of that cruel clock bringing her and her children closer to despair, and not a job in sight. Only the Congress can stop the clock -- and stop this heartless threat to poor families -- as long as we are in this recession. Furthermore, women who are still receiving welfare assistance but have been unable to find jobs -- they too cannot reasonably be held to a time limit that is set to expire, when there simply are no jobs to be found.
As it is likely that the House will pass this bill, we must demand that the Senate create a plan to help both the people and the economy -- not big business. This includes reforming unemployment insurance to include more workers, especially part-time workers, extending benefits and giving them directly to the unemployed (not block-granting to the states, creating another level of bureaucracy), stopping the welfare time clock, and rejecting any tax breaks for corporations that are not directly tied to new investments and job creation.
If Congress wants to stimulate spending, then it needs to get money into the hands of low-income and laid-off workers who, by necessity, will put it right back into the economy -- while feeding their families.
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