Rep. Roberts offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 275.

            A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program.

            Whereas, The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program is a federal program providing additional unemployment benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular benefits provided under the unemployment insurance system. The EUC program, enacted in 2008 as unemployment skyrocketed, provides at least 14 additional weeks of unemployment benefits in all states, but for states with a high unemployment rate, like Michigan, the EUC program provides up to 47 additional weeks. However, a 2012 law amended this program, scheduling it to expire at the end of year and eliminating the gradual phase-out of the program; and

            Whereas, The percentage of Americans unemployed for more than six months remains near historic highs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36.1 percent of the unemployed, or 4.1 million Americans, are long-term unemployed. This is ten percentage points higher than the previously recorded highest long-term unemployment rate of 26 percent in 1948. Moreover, these 4.1 million individuals are competing with the short-term unemployed and upcoming college graduates for jobs in an economy with 2 million fewer jobs than in December 2007; and  

            Whereas, Allowing the EUC program to expire will have significant negative consequences on the long-term unemployed and our nation's efforts at economic recovery. If the program is allowed to expire, emergency employment benefits will be eliminated to approximately 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans, including 44,000 Michigan residents. Moreover, by June 2014, an additional 1.9 million Americans, 86,500 from Michigan, would have qualified for these benefits but will find them unavailable. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that without an extension of the EUC program the resultant drop in consumer demand would eliminate 310,000 jobs, exacerbating an already difficult job climate; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we memorialize the Congress of the United States to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.