New York Times, “Beat the Clock,” EDITORIAL (May 24, 2006)

Most of the unemployed are Katrina victims who are still living outside Louisiana. The argument that their jobless benefits are a disincentive to work is absurd, as well as heartless. The average benefit is $104 a week - and that is for people who lost everything and, in many cases, loved ones only nine months ago.

It's distressing that lawmakers even need to be prodded to provide additional relief. Since their last recess, their biggest "achievement" has been a two-year extension of investor tax cuts, worth nearly $51 billion, for America's wealthiest families. Congress hustled to lock in the tax cuts this month, even though they weren't scheduled to expire until the end of 2008. Yet those same lawmakers are now running out the clock on unemployment benefits for some of America's neediest families. The estimated cost for a 13-week extension is $125 million.

Biloxi (MS) Sun-Herald, “Families fear pinch as DUA ends: 13,000 will lose about $200 a week,” (June 3, 2006)

Earl Campbell called this idea absurd, that with the casino industry still limping back and people like his wife struggling to find work because she is often "overqualified," just a little more time is needed for the economy to offer the right jobs to the right people.

"I can't wait to go back to work," Campbell said. "So many friends relocated to Arizona, Philadelphia, Miss., Illinois, Indiana, to go back to work. We don't want to just sit at home collecting unemployment. I couldn't leave because I have a 76-year-old father who lives nearby."

Shreveport (LA) Times, “Help to thousands of jobless Katrina victims ends today,” (June 4, 2006)

Karen Rice with Volunteers of America of North Louisiana, an agency in Shreveport contracted by the state to provide case managers for evacuees, said she hears the desperation in the voices of those without jobs.

"These are people that want to work, but they just can't find a job," Rice said, adding the north Louisiana VOA is handling 340 cases.

Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger, “Katrina victims lose jobs, now aid,” (June 3, 2006)

A former home health worker who used to care for the elderly, Katrina Goods said she has had trouble finding a job in Mississippi and has used the $98 she's received every week in disaster unemployment benefits to help support herself and her two daughters, ages 10 and 5. "Jobs are not plentiful," Goods said. "I hope it will get better.”
The Beaumont (TX) Enterprise, “Katrina's jobless soon to lose disaster benefits,”June 3, 2006

Believe her, Sharon Bendtsen said, she's been trying to find work, checking parish after parish for any open teaching position. But she thinks it's her experience and perhaps the 57-year-old's gray hairs preventing her from finding a willing employer.

"It's not that we aren't trying," Bendtsen said in a telephone conference call. "There are very few jobs at my age. I can't lift enough weight to be a stock worker. ... I can't stay on my feet to be a waitress."

Seattle Times, “Extend benefits for hurricane victims,” EDITORIAL (May 25, 2006)

Lawmakers ought not in good conscience go on paid holiday without taking care of this issue. There are Americans who desperately need this aid.

No need to fear that people who aren't working are suddenly being coddled. Most of the unemployed hurricane victims are still living outside of Louisiana, compounding their efforts to find stable employment.

There is precedent for such targeted compassion. After 9/11, lawmakers extended unemployment benefits for employees in the airline and aerospace industry.

San Antonio Express-News, “Katrina victims vying for disaster benefits extension"  (June 3, 2006)

Granderson Johnson, a 46-year-old diabetic, was a photographer for Wal-Mart in New Orleans. He found temporary work at a store in Houston after the storm but now is unemployed. He hopes to return to New Orleans soon and find a job.

"It's been hard," said Johnson, adding that the $104 of DUA he gets every week go for groceries and gas.

Dallas Morning News, “Job growth slack,” (June 3, 2006)

The strength of the labor market is key for the 83,000 unemployed Hurricane Katrina evacuees – 26,000 of whom are living in Texas – who will see disaster unemployment benefits run out this weekend.

 Though it's been nine months since Katrina made landfall, many evacuees still need assistance, said Don Baylor Jr., policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.

"Some jobs require applicants to speak Spanish, and many evacuees don't have those skills," he said. "Transportation is another issue, especially for folks coming from New Orleans."