During a speech on the House floor, Kuster highlights the story of a Colebrook constituent who lost her teaching position after 29 years on the job and relies on emergency UI benefits to make ends meet while she looks for work

In total, more than 1,000 Granite Staters lost UI benefits at the end of 2013; without Congressional action, an additional 150 Granite Staters will lose their benefits every week during the first half of 2014

Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) this week continued to urge her colleagues to support legislation extending emergency unemployment insurance benefits that expired at the end of 2013. During a speech on the House floor, Kuster highlighted the story of a constituent from Colebrook who lost her teaching position last fall after 29 years on the job, and who depends on unemployment insurance benefits to get by as she applies for jobs. More than 1.3 million Americans – including more than 1,000 Granite Staters – have already been cut off from their emergency unemployment insurance benefits, and more will lose their benefits every week that Congress fails to act.

“[The EUC program] compensation provides a critical lifeline to Granite Staters and other Americans who are still struggling to find work. This includes Lois, a teacher who wrote to me from Colebrook, New Hampshire,” Kuster said. “At the end of the last school year, Lois lost her job after teaching for 29 years because of falling enrollment in her rural school district. Over the last few months, she has applied to over 100 jobs without any luck.”

“Her savings have been exhausted, unemployment benefits are now her only source of income, and she is worried about whether she can keep her home,” Kuster continued. “We must give people like Lois – hardworking Americans who have suffered a tough break – the opportunity to get back on their feet.”

For months, Kuster has been outspoken about the need to extend unemployment insurance benefits for Granite Staters still struggling to find work. She first called on Congress to pass legislation to renew the Emergency Unemployment Compensation in November, and personally called on Speaker Boehner to bring that legislation to a vote before Congress adjourned at the end of last year. Kuster is also a cosponsor of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, legislation to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed through 2014.

###