Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

THE GREAT RECESSION

Mainers face elimination of jobless aid

Thousands face cut-off during the next several weeks

By Matthew Stone mstone@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Regina Gagnon has cobbled together an income from whatever temporary work she's been able to find since losing her job at Sappi Fine Paper in 2006.

"It's been tough for the last three, four years," said Gagnon, who lives in Augusta. "I'm doing what I can to survive."

Gagnon most recently worked for the U.S. Census Bureau but has been without work since September, when she started receiving unemployment benefits.

Those payments expire in mid-January, however, and they won't be renewed unless a lame-duck Congress in its final days approves a longer extension of unemployment benefits.

"If they're considering ending this, that would be very tough," Gagnon said Wednesday as she searched for work at the Augusta CareerCenter.

Unemployment benefits for those who have been without work for 99 weeks began expiring Wednesday, and the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that benefits for 2 million Americans will expire by Christmas.

In Maine, unemployment benefits for nearly 6,800 people are set to expire Dec. 11, said Adam Fisher, a Maine Department of Labor spokesman.

By the end of the year, nearly 2,700 additional unemployed Maine residents will join those ranks if no benefit extension passes Congress.

By mid-April, more than 21,000 in Maine could see their unemployment benefits lapse. The Maine Department of Labor reported last month that about 24,000 Mainers are receiving unemployment benefits; their average weekly payment is $266.73.

Many unemployment benefit recipients recently received letters warning them their benefits could expire in the coming weeks.

That set off a wave of inquiring calls to the Maine Department of Labor.

"We've been inundated with calls from people wondering how this is going to impact them," Fisher said.

The letter also sparked an uptick in visits to the Augusta CareerCenter early this week, said Tracy Hotham, a career center consultant.

"That's very distressing for people," Augusta CareerCenter director John Christie said. "While they've been on unemployment, they've also been looking for work."

Anne Haggar has already seen her unemployment benefits dry up; she's been out of work for 26 months and is looking for jobs in human resources.

"Some very dedicated, unemployed people are job searching very diligently to become employed," Haggar said Wednesday as she looked for work. "I'm at the CareerCenter all this time every day. If I'm not at the CareerCenter, I'm at home doing the same thing."

In Washington, the fate of an extension of unemployment benefits hinges largely on the fate of Bush-era tax cuts also set to expire.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, called for an extension on the House floor on Wednesday.

"Putting American workers ahead of millionaires and billionaires should be our priority and shouldn't be a tough choice to make," she said in prepared remarks.

But the benefits extension failed to win the support needed in the House before Thanksgiving, and Senate Democrats had no luck Tuesday in their bid to extend benefits in a fast-track floor vote.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., all 42 Republican senators Wednesday vowed to block nearly all legislation until tax cuts are extended and a bill is passed to fund the federal government.

Material from the Associated Press and Tribune Washington Bureau was used in this report.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com