Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21) released this statement on new data showing that today the number of Americans without unemployment insurance will grow to more 87,600 in Florida and 1.6 million nationwide. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee based these estimates on the number of Americans looking for work who have lost their unemployment insurance each week. Across the country, an average of nearly 72,000 job seekers have stopped receiving this vital assistance each week since December 28, 2013, when Republicans in Congress allowed the federal emergency unemployment compensation to expire. 

“Congress should not punish the unemployed, who are out there looking for work at a time when there are still three times as many job-seekers as there are jobs,” said Congressman Deutch. “This unemployment assistance is what lets job-seekers gas up their cars, feed their families, and heat their homes, and we can extend it without adding a dime to our deficit. Abandoning 1.6 million job-seekers at a time like this will only further stifle our economy, which economists predict will create about 200,000 fewer jobs in 2014 as a result.”

Each week that House Republicans block efforts by Democrats to restore unemployment insurance, another 3,600 jobless Floridians lose the assistance that is keeping them afloat. Senate Republicans last week also voted twice to block legislation to extend the benefit, including an 11-month extension that would scale back the program substantially and offset the costs. 

In Florida, unemployment benefits on average last about 46 weeks. Without the federal extension, Florida's unemployment insurance benefits will drop to just 19 weeks.