Between 2009 and 2012, incomes of the top 1 percent grew by 31 percent, while incomes of the bottom 40 percent fell by six percent. Unemployment is still at 7 percent, and there are 4 million long-term unemployed. Unemployment insurance and food stamps increase consumer spending, which is exactly what our economy needs. Yet Republicans are refusing to support an extension of emergency unemployment insurance and are insisting on cuts to food stamps. These hard-hearted policies not only slam families who are already hurting, but also slow down economic growth.

On Dec. 28, about 1.3 million people who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks lost their unemployment insurance benefits. Democrats will continue to try to pass the extension in January, but if they are not successful at getting these benefits restored, over the course of 2014 almost 5 million people will be affected.

Republicans contend that if we cut people off of unemployment insurance, they will be motivated to go out and get a job. But there are currently three job seekers for every available job. And research shows that receipt of unemployment benefits — which amount to between 40-50 percent of previous salary — does not stop people from seeking jobs and does not raise the overall unemployment level. Republican Senator Rand Paul says that providing extended unemployment insurance is a “disservice” to the unemployed. This patronizing attitude toward those who have lost their jobs represents, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman says, “a general pattern of afflicting the afflicted while comforting the comfortable.”

The contempt for working people and the poor held by conservatives extends to those who receive food stamps, or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Many low wage workers depend on food stamps to help feed their families. Average food stamp benefits are $4.45 a day. Republican Party officials are intent on cutting the food stamp program by $40 billion, pushing 2 million people off the program.

According to the Center for Budget Priorities, women are twice as likely to use food stamps as the rest of the population. In 2010, 42 percent of single mothers depended on food stamps. In rural areas it’s 50 percent. According to University of California at Berkeley scholar Ruth Rosen, “These women are either unemployed, under-employed or service workers who don’t earn enough to feed themselves and their families. By the end of the month, they and their children frequently skip meals or eat one meal a day until the next month’s SNAP assistance arrives.”

Economist Krugman notes that unemployment insurance and food stamps help the family receiving them and the economy as a whole. Our economy is depressed because of a lack of overall spending. Government policies should encourage greater spending, and for this reason unemployment insurance and SNAP are essential policy measures. The economic consulting firm, Moody’s Analytics, has estimated that for each dollar spent on food stamps, the gross domestic product rises by about $1.70. Spending by low wage and unemployed workers helps economic growth.

We all must push back against this mean-spirited attack on vital, successful programs that help families and society as a whole. Demand that Congress pass an extension of emergency unemployment insurance and preserve the vital and effective SNAP benefits.
Labor Voices



Bob King is president of the United Auto Workers.