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President signs into law extension of unemployment benefits and COBRA

MEDIA RELEASE

Statement of Assistant Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi on extension of COBRA subsidy eligibility to May 31, 2010

Washington – Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis C. Borzi today issued the following statement regarding the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) and the premium reduction under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA):

“On April 15, 2010, the President signed into law an extension of unemployment benefits and the COBRA premium assistance that helps with the cost of health benefits for Americans who lost their jobs. This extension provides a COBRA premium subsidy for eligible individuals who are involuntarily terminated from employment through May 31, 2010.

“The new law also provides retroactive eligibility for individuals who lost their jobs after the prior COBRA subsidy expired on March 31, 2010. These programs are vitally important to the economic wellbeing of workers who lost their jobs and their family members.

“ARRA provides a 65 percent tax subsidy for the cost of health benefits, making them much more affordable for the unemployed and their families. Millions of individuals may be eligible to receive a premium subsidy for up to15 months.

“This administration is committed to putting Americans back to work so they can rebuild the financial fabric of their lives, and the Labor Department is working hard to make that happen.”

Additional information is available at www.dol.gov/COBRA. Subscribe to the dedicated web page to get updates as new information about the COBRA subsidy become

14 Responses to “President signs into law extension of unemployment benefits and COBRA”

  1. Regina Alexander says:

    Everything you have written is a bunch of garbage. “This administration is committed to putting Americans back to work so they can rebuild the financial fabric of their lives,? if this so-called statement is true why are their close to a million people who are in the tier 5 stage of unemployment without necessary benefits. Why did the senate overlook this critical situation. We, the middle class tax payers did not cause this problem. The Government did. Now they deny us the necessary monies to live. Thousands are going hungry, losing their homes and their minds. Unemployment should continue until the jobs come back!

    • richard says:

      I AGREE..WE THE MIDDLE CLASS HAVE TO PAY ALL OF OUR TAXES,AND PENALTYS ON EVERYTHING…WE HAVE TO SUPPORT THE COUNTRY FOR EVERYTHING..FOR THE RICH,AND FOR THE POOR..AND FOR THE SCUMBAGS,WHO KEEP HAVING CHILDREN EVERY YEAR,LIVING ON WELFARE,LOOKING FOR A FREE CHECK .I;M SICK AND TIRED OF OUR GOVERNMENT SCREWING THE MIDDLE CLASS.THIS PRESIDENT TRAVELS AROUND THE COUNTRY AND WORLD,LIKE ITS A PARTY..STAY AT THE WHITEHOUSE ” MORON”..AND FIX WHAT YOU ARE DESTROYING…STOP SPENDING MONEY THAT ISN’T OURS ANYMORE..STOP TRYING TO TURN AMERICA INTO A COMMUNIST COUNTRY,WITH YOUR BULLSHIT LEADERSHIP..I NEVER HAVE SEEN SUCH A SORRY BUNCH OF CRAP,IN BOTH THE HOUSE AN SENATE………WHAT A DISASTER…..WE NEED TO START OVER IN OUR NEXT ELECTION……..GOD HELP US ALL.

      • Unemployed Lady says:

        Richard- OBAMA didn’t do it.
        Talk to Bush who thought he could make his administration look good by encouraging people to take loans which they couldn’t afford, so they could buy things, which they couldnt afford…Made the economy look great….but it was all based on lies…No regulation in banking, stocks, etc.
        To make matters worse, he engaged in a war which WE WERE NOT PAYING FOR. I’m not sure how I feel about the war, but I AM SURE WE NEEDED TO BE PAYING FOR IT!!! He loved the idea that he lowered taxes for the richest among us… BUT HE BORROWED HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY FROM OTHER COUNTRIES to PAY for that war.
        We are now in a MESS…..
        ALSO there was more OFF SHORING OF JOBS during the Bush Administration than any time in our history. It’s not just Mexico… Its India, Ireland, Scotland, just to mention a few.
        Who do you get when you call customer service for your bank, your computer, etc.?????????
        Give credit where credit is due.
        Lets see if we can try to correct what has been done. See if you cant support an administration that is trying to keep this country alive. TRYING to repair the damage that was done.
        TRYING to help those of us who were damaged by this survive..
        Write Republican Congress people to VOTE to HELP the people who have paid their salaries for years!!!!
        THEY HOLD UP THE BILLS THAT COULD HELP EVERY TIME!!!

      • Lea says:

        I AGREE WHOLE HEARTLY I TO AM SICK OF PAYING FOR THE ONES THAT SIT ON THEIR ASS AND DOES NOTHING BUT HAVE KIDS FOR ME TO SUPPORT WHILE I CAN NOT AFFORD INSURANCE MYSELF AND AFTER 40 YEARS OF WORKING I CAN ONLY GET BENEFITS FOR A SHORT TIME. THE THING SHOULD BE IF YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED YOU SHOULD GET THE WEEKS NOT “UP TO” SUCH AND SUCH WEEKS IF THEY WOULD START TAKING FROM THESE FRIGGING SENATORS AND THE ONES RUNNING THE COUNTRY AND PUT IN FOR THE WORKING OR SHOULD I SAY US OF THE NON WORKING BECAUSE OF THEM THEY WOULD GET THINGS GOING.

    • Unemployed Lady says:

      Watch the news-Read the news- listen to the news—-
      Then tell the Republicans in Congress – Thank you for all of it.
      The economic melt-down, and all the inactivity on unemployment.
      Write to the Republican congress people. Go to U.S. SENATE.COM.
      You will find the e-mail sites and the phone numbers for these people, who are being paid by taxpayers. We have paid taxes for years–paying their salaries, and now that we need help, they are doing everything they can to deny us any help.
      In the meantime, they still get their salaries, not to mention all the perks the taxpayers are still paying for.
      READ- (don’t watch the movie) READ Charlie Wilson’s war. You will be apalled at the perks these guys get at our expense….Then deny any help we need.

    • Turn Pike Patty says:

      See how you like this one…
      Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn’t make the headlines…

      See Below the HB 1388 Bill that was passed for $20M…

      Well if President Obama can lay out this kind of money asthis states below for Hamas members and supporters, perhaps he can find the money to continue subsidizing the Americans thru un-employment until we can hopefully get back over 2 million jobs that have gone abroad to other countries. Even though he wasn’t President at the time, why wasn’t anyone watching over the Americans when all of this was being decided as to how and when we could allow the companies to fire our people and send their jobs over seas to save corporations large tax dollars…ain’t it great!
      But reading the note below makes me want to live somewhere other than here because eventually, with all the new laws, rules & regulations set forth for all of the illegal aliens coming into our country, they will have to do nothing except show up and and we, the great, stupid Americans will pay to have them here…what’s wrong with this picture? I think we as the taxpayer should come first, not every other country needing assistance. We can’t even get the help we have have earned after working for 45 years and paying into all of the government programs, taxes, ect. They should be ashamed to
      say they have our interests at heart..hope they never make these comments within any church walls that could possibly collapse on top of them. If this is how concerned, religious or non-religious persons believe the American people should be taken care of, hope they don’t have children who one day might be receiving the same treatment and not have enough food money to feed the kids, much less themselves.
      Enough said, everyone knows the Government does what they want and we have no say…
      BUT I’M SURE EVERYONE WILL LIKE THIS ONE- Be sure to visit the website shown at the end of this message to confirm this release..

      HB 1388 PASSED
      You just spent $20,000,000 to move members/supporters of Hamas, a terrorist organization, to the United States ; housing, food, the whole enchilada.

      HB 1388 PASSED

      Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U.S. needs to know….

      Something happened… H.R. 1388 was passed, behind our backs. You may want to read about it… It wasn ‘ t mentioned on the news… just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN
      screen.

      Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn’t make the headlines…

      By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in “migration assistance” to the Palestinian refugees and “conflict victims” in Gaza .

      The “presidential determination,” which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States , was signed and appears in the Federal Register.

      Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.

      Now we learn that he is allowing thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.

      These important, and insightful, issues are being “lost” in the blinding bail-outs and “stimulation” packages.

      Doubtful? To verify this for yourself: http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488

  2. sarah says:

    what the president just signed will not help me or others that have exhausted all unemployment.what is sad is they can help the idiots that helped cause the country to be in disaray and help foriegn countries but to help us that helped out our country with our working taxes and send our jobs to mexico shame shame shame

  3. voxpopuli says:

    The long termed unemployed were thrust into this situation by no fault of their own; facts are that this “recession” was actually caused by the greed of Wall Street bankers, hedge fund firms, insurance companies and unscrupulous real estate brokers. It is unfair to further financially harm those which are actively seeking replacement employment by limiting or eliminating their UI lifeline; these are the very people that actually have already suffered the most and it is obvious that the greed of Wall Street is responsible.

    As a nation, our recourse should be to redirect the financial responsibility back to the offending perpetrators (“the evil doers”, as Bush #43 would say). We have damage laws in this country and the offending firms should be held FULLY responsible for their actions.

    Identify and prosecute those that pillaged our financial system for their personal gain; seize their bank accounts, real estate, airplanes, cars, boats, anything and everything that they have or own that can be used to pay REPARATION for their acts. Send these people to where they can permanently visit with the Madoff’s and Enron’s of this world, jail.

    This is how the republicans can pay for unemployment benefits.

    • Unemployed Lady says:

      Voxpopuli- you are exacty right. And don’t forget the Bush Administration, who set up a false prosperity to make themselves look good by deregulating everything they could deregulate. This resulted in making it possible for the greed to happen.
      Write, telephone, e-mail the Repulican Congress people to let them know they need to start helping to put the country back together, AND to continue the life line necessary for those of us who have been hurt the worst to survive.

    • joan says:

      i agree wholeheartedly……there are a whole lot of people who scrimped and saved and did not go over their budget and now we get to pay for everyone else who threw caution to the wind and just plain out “screw everybody”. most of these people were not american citizens to begin with and they come here get there licenses “GOD KNOWS HOW THEY DID IT” and then they bought property for hundreds of thousands more than was asked and took the overage at closing went back to their respective countries and NEVER made a mortgage payment! the mortgage people were the worst offenders AND i am told by several people i know from other countries who are here LEGALLY that they get calls every day from companies, groups, organizations offering them money and support from government programs…….but I have no insurance, work as an honest realtor up to 18 hours a day and have not been paid for many many weeks. yet this corruption and graft and unethical immoral behavior has to be stopped!!!

  4. Unemployed Lady says:

    Turnpike Patty- I read the info at the link you provided. BUT it doesn’t say what you said it does.
    I can see relief for victims of violence the the area, and it does mention international relief entities, administrative costs for certan bureaus, etc.
    But I need clarification on the other stuff you mention. Could you direct me to the right place for me to find it??
    I’m very interested to educate myself in this regard. If it is happening we need to put some real effort into stopping it.
    Thanx for anything you can do to help me in this area.

  5. JimH says:

    If you believe there needs so to additional weeks of benefits passed into law, PLEASE sign the petition at:

    http://www.change.org/petitions/view/the_99ers_need_a_tier_v_added_to_unemployment_benefits

    This is unlike many other ePetitions. This one actually takes positive action. Once you sign the petition and give your address, it figures out who your representatives in Washington are and sends each of them an email pleading for a Tier V.

    So please sign this petition which will flood their inboxes with our voices!!

    • Joyce Smith says:

      Dear Senator and Republicans and Democrats,
      You are aware of what collasped our jobs, our economy. “Wall Street and Greed in the Banks” So why do you refusing to recognize people really have been unable to get through the the locked doors to get a job because small and large companies are afraid to hire due to the domino effects of the economic crash and the uncertainty of feeling trusting and financially stable enough to take on anymore financial burdens. The fact that People are going place to place and cannot get a job and the doors are not opening to many of the unemployed and the effects are very real and still exist has left them, us and me without work for months and a few years.
      PLEASE DO SOMETHING FOR YOUR OWN COUNTRY WHILE WE ARE CRAWLING OUR WAY OUT OF RECOVERY AND CONTINUE TO GIVE STRUGGLING OUT OF WORK AMERICANS UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENTION EVEN THOSE THAT EXHAUSTED EVERYTHING SINCE APRIL 3, 2010. THE STEPS OF WASHINGTON DC WILL BE FLOODED WITH THE UNEMPLOYED SHORTLY. ‘WE ARE AMERICA AND MUST CARE ABOUT OUR OWN PEOPLE HERE IF WE ARE GOING TO KEEP THE WHEEL TURNING TO GROWTH.’

      THANK YOU,
      JOYCE SMITH

  6. Konrad W says:

    I am a guest here, but before you go blaming a group one might want to look at a few very interesting facts. The US dollar went into a tail spin following the 2006 election where the Democrats stated very blatantly that they had no intention of following the balanced budget act. This so worried the worlds money markets that the day after the election the US dollar began its slide. This slide increased when the first act of that congress was to rescind said balanced budget act IE we the liberals don't feel the need to pay our bills, and feel free to spend whatever it takes to stay in control.This slide caused the largest imported commodity OIL to increase dramatically. Since most working Americans spend a disproportionate amount of their income to drive from affordable housing to their place of employment this affected their ability to pay their mortgages. Also nobody has looked into the fact that the first wave of mortgages to fail were mostly ones made because of Equal lending laws that made unequal allowances for minorities that greatly enhanced their credit rating to fictitious levels. One last point since the bailout of banks and industries in this country began under this liberal with our money government nobody has bothered to track where the money that has been repaid by those banks and companies has gone. They have paid back well over half of it. Had that money been used to repay the bonds issued to receive that money the US dollar would have rebounded thus helping the US economy. Instead our government is closing more industries every day by EPA standards no other country in the world has to meet. We as Americans won't buy USA products if they are a penny more than something from any third world hell hole. So my fellow American you want to solve the problem, do what our fore fathers did fix it without the government. Stop polluting by proxy, stop being enslaved to the idea that the government owes you something for some perceived injustice by long ago posterity and get your self to work. We want to be a world leader tax foreign goods from countries that are not meeting our EPA standards and minimum wages thus creating an equal playing field. Buy USA made products until they do. We do that in I will bet that this country will find itself once again a world leader and not a sludge pot of corruption and hypocrisy.

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