WASHINGTON - March 31 - Today marks the final day of a phase-out of unemployment benefits for more than one million Americans. With parents who are jobless and left without unemployment benefits, 622,000 children and their families will suffer financial hardships, according to estimates by the Children's Defense Fund (CDF).

The process of phasing out the federal program designed to provide extended financial assistance to the unemployed is occurring despite the continued jobless recovery. Since December 2003, when the phase-out started, about 1.1 million people have exhausted their benefits and are not eligible for any additional unemployment assistance. According to the Congressional Budget Office, these individuals and their families will now lose an average of $1,100 per month.

"Eleven hundred dollars per month barely provides enough to feed and clothe a child and to pay the family's rent," said Deborah Cutler-Ortiz, Director of Family Income at CDF. "These are basic essentials, and they represent the very minimum of an appropriate federal response to the prolonged economic problems facing our country. Record numbers of Americans are losing unemployment benefits and no new jobs are in sight."

A recent Congressional Budget Office study found that ending unemployment benefits increases the number of families living in poverty without health insurance. The CBO revealed that when unemployment benefits end, one in three long-term recipients has a monthly family income that drops below the poverty line. In addition, more than double that number are left without the health insurance they enjoyed while employed. "The effect on children of such sharp losses in needed family income and health benefits is obviously severe," Cutler-Ortiz said.

"Congress and the Administration have the opportunity to resolve this crisis by reinstating extended unemployment benefits immediately in the TANF legislation currently being debated," explained Cutler-Ortiz. "Without these benefits, more than 600,000 children and one million jobless workers face destitution and poverty."

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