House Votes to Extend Unemployment Benefits
for 47,000 in Hawaii

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 403-12 to extend unemployment benefits for 14 weeks to 1.3 million jobless Americans who will exhaust all their unemployment benefits by the end of the year, including an estimated 46,900 in Hawaii.  The extended unemployment benefits were part of the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which also extends the homebuyers’ tax credit and tax relief for military families and businesses.

“These are our neighbors; people who had stable jobs and commitments based on those jobs, such as college payments and mortgages, “Abercrombie said. “And, it’s not over.  Maui Land & Pineapple just announced the layoff of 185 people. After 119 years, Gay & Robinson is getting out of sugar business next year: 225 employees.  The ground is falling out from under people through no fault of their own.”

According to research from Rutgers University, many of the unemployed are middle-class Americans who lost their jobs without warning: six in ten report no advance notice; nearly four in ten had been employed by their company for more than three years; one in ten for more than a decade. 

“Extending unemployment benefits for individuals and families who have been devastated by the recession is a matter of honoring our responsibility to each other,” said Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie. “It’s also one of the most direct and cost-effective ways to stimulate the economy, because the money is spent quickly.  Every $1 spent on unemployment benefits generates $1.63 in new economic demand, according to Moody’s Economy.com.” 

The bill also strengthens the domestic housing market by extending the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit through April 30, 2010, giving purchasers under a binding contract an additional 60 days to close after that date.  Additionally, it will provide a $6,500 credit to new purchasers who have lived in their current residence for five years or more out of the previous eight years.

And to help struggling businesses, the legislation passed today allows businesses to use net operating losses from 2008 or 2009 to offset profits from five previous years, instead of two years.  In many cases, this will result in tax refunds. Businesses would only be able to offset 50 percent of their income from the fifth year.  Small businesses who have already elected to carry back 2008 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act may also elect to carry back losses from 2009.

The bill is fully paid for by an extension of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act through June 30, 2011.  The Senate passed the same legislation yesterday 98-0, so it now goes directly to the President for his signature.

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