Lawmaker Unemployment Hearing Attended By Single Member of Congress At Opening

[Mayhem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/lawmaker-unemployment-hearing_n_3148362.html

More than five years since the start of the Great Recession, unemployment remains a major economic problem in the United States, with long-term unemployment among its most stubborn aspects.

Nobody told Congress.

A hearing Thursday on long-term unemployment held before the 19-member Joint Economic Committee began with just a single lawmaker in attendance. Panelists testifying on the problem and its potential solutions spoke only to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the committee's vice-chair, for the first half-hour of the roughly 90-minute session.

The all-but-complete absence of congressional interest was first documented by National Journal reporter Niraj Chokshi, who tweeted a photo of the hearing. Shortly after the photo was posted, several other lawmakers did trickle in to participate. Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) arrived eight minutes into the hearing. Once the hearing had been under way for 35 minutes, Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) was also in attendance, according to Chokshi. Eventually Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) also joined, bringing the crowd to four.

More than 4.6 million Americans have been jobless for at least 27 weeks, according to the latest job figures, a rate of 3.0 percent. That's higher than at any point since World War II, including the 2.6-percent peak during the recession of the early 1980s. The official unemployment rate currently stands at 7.6 percent, down from 10.0 percent at the recession's darkest moments, although much of the reduction has been due to people leaving the workforce -- simply giving up hope of finding a job.

Jobs advocates have continually chastised Congress for focusing on the federal budget deficit instead of the shortage of employment in the U.S., which still features more than four job seekers for every open position in the country.

The Joint Economic Committee is one of only a handful of congressional panels that features members of both the House and Senate. Its hearings are thinly attended at times, but the contrast between Thursday's hearing and a March 14 hearing on "Solving The Federal Debt Crisis" is revealing. That hearing on debt opened with five members of Congress in attendance, including three Democrats and two Republicans. Over the course of the nearly two-hour session, several other members of the committee filed in.

Kevin Hassett, the author of Dow 36,000, which predicted a fantastic rise in equities before two subsequent crashes, said he wasn't surprised. "There are often moments like that at hearings. Very few are ever heavily attended. People came in late, after the picture, I suppose," he told HuffPost.

At the hearing, Klobuchar presented a study indicating that long-term unemployment is disproportionately affecting young workers, black and Hispanic workers, and workers with lower levels of education. The study is in keeping with other work that shows the economic recovery has been far better for some groups than others. The wealthiest 1 percent of households have received 106 percent of the gains since the recession bottomed out.

Dr. Harry J. Holzer, a public policy professor at Georgetown University, said by the time he testified at about 11 a.m., two senators -- Klobuchar and Murphy -- were in the room. "There were people in the audience," he said, noting that Klobuchar sounded motivated on the subject. "That can make it worth it," he added. "If one senator sponsors a bill with some of your information, that's a pretty big reward for your effort."

Holzer testified about the various hardships that the long-term unemployed faced and the differences between older unemployed citizens and younger unemployed citizens. He proposed wage insurance for people who transition from manufacturing jobs to jobs with lesser pay, having the federal government pitch in to make up the difference. Holzer said he has testified before Congress 15 times over the years, and there is always a risk of a low turnout.

Keith Hall, a senior research scholar at the libertarian-leaning Mercatus Center, is a former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner who testified at the hearing. "It's disappointing, I have to say," he told HuffPost about the attendance. "It is a little bit disappointing, because you'd really like to see a more engaged discussion, and it would be nice to see that both sides were there and both sides were talking."

Hall said that attendance was low probably because Congress isn't doing anything about long-term unemployment. With no bills to choose from, there's little value in becoming educated on the issue. The lack of interest may also be a consequence of the slow start to the year for the House of Representatives, which held just one markup session legislation on any topic in the first eight weeks of 2013.

"They're talking about the problem and they're looking for solutions, but there's really no hard proposal on the table," said Hall, "so while this is informative and helpful, they're not dealing with some proposal where they're close to working on something."

Congress is a long way off, Hall said. "I think it's good this is hitting their radar screen, but there's a lot of work to go to get the economy back in shape and get the long-term unemployed back in shape, and they need more than just a hearing a two," he said.

 

[bobjustbob]

In NJ it's the same way. All of the Sandy money was gobbled up by committies and still waiting to be distributed. There should have been people hired to rebuild once we got the check. The state knew from the start what had to be done and could have gotten people working on it. And consider that this is a state that still has one of the worst unemployment numbers in the nation months after that money came in. Sickening.

 

[meesterperfect]

In NJ it's the same way. All of the Sandy money was gobbled up by committies and still waiting to be distributed. There should have been people hired to rebuild once we got the check. The state knew from the start what had to be done and could have gotten people working on it. And consider that this is a state that still has one of the worst unemployment numbers in the nation months after that money came in. Sickening.

My unemployment story in NJ.

I worked at a place that got messed up and closed from the hurricane.
I applied for partial unemployment and I continued to worked for the company about 8 - 16 hours a week at other locations.
Well, I couldnt apply for almost a month after the storm because their website was down and they didnt answer the phone ever.
Finally i went down there to the office.
I got there at 2:50 pm. The woman said its too late, you have to come back tomorrow. i said what time are you open until? She said 5 pm but we stop letting people in at 3.
i said well its 10 minutes before 3. She said ok, but youre the last one, with her shitty NJ fat fuck attitude.
At 4 pm i was called, completely prepared. The woman spent some time asking me questions, doing her thing, then she said " Oh, I was supposed to leave at 4, I gotta go".
And she fucking left.
So now I am the only one there and Im just sitting there. Finally I told another NJ fat fuck I need help.
So we started all over again, but the woman was in a hurry because now it was 4:30. So at about 4:40 some other NJ fat fuck comes in bitching about the internet being down. Demanding service.
The security guy tells her to come back the next day before 3, but the fat fuck continues to raise hell.
So, the woman helping me who was almost finished calls her over and starts helping her. I was now pissed.
Then she comes back to me at 4:55 and tells me , " its too late now, you gotta come back tomorrow".
I said " I'm not leaving here until you put my claim in the system" among other things.
Where to they get these people? fucking idiots.
She said she would put it in the system the next day.
I wait 2 more weeks and nothing. The bitch didnt do it.
So, after many calls and time figuring out my claim was not entered I was able to do it online.
Almost a month goes by and no money still.
So I made some calls, nothing. I went down there spent a few hours and found out that Unemployment sent the first 6 weeks of my money since i first applied online to NJ ***** support.
But I havent had to pay CS in years!
They used an old order that hasnt been in effect since 2007.
So i go to ***** support and the guy tells me ' Yes, they sent us 700 dollars".
Ok, I said ' can I have it back?' he said " no, youll get a credit" . But i dont pay CS. In another words they are gonna sit on it forever.
They sent me a check later for 148.00, I have no Idea why. The rest of it........just gone, stolen.

Finally, by now its January I start getting about 200 dollars a week at most depending how much i worked. Some weeks i got nothing.
In total I got 2,200 dollars,( although I could have milked it for over 7 thousand if i didnt go back to work).....including the 552.00 that was stolen by CS.
A few weeks ago I went back to work enough to **** the unemployment.
NOW YESTERDAY I RECIEVED A LETTER FROM NJ UNEMPLOYMENT SAYING THAT THEY OVERPAID ME 600 DOLLARS PLUS 60 DOLLARS IN FINES....AND THEY ARE TAKING ME TO COURT IF I DONT RETURN THE MONEY WITHIN 7 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS STATE IS COMPLETELY FUCKED UP. Every form of government, from the police to the capital, to the local municipalities.....its just a mess.
If it wasnt for my ***** i would not be living here. the GOV has ruined in so many ways what was a nice place to live. The NJ GOV is just in shambles, utterly useless, but very effective with taking money from people who actually work.......the small amount of us in this state who are left.