Take Action!
Swift Action Needed To Create Jobs And Stop The Bleeding!
In one month, one million Americans will lose their unemployment insurance unless Congress acts now. And that number will grow steeply in the months to follow. The loss of unemployment insurance will continue to devastate working families and communities struggling to keep their heads above water.
If Congress doesn't extend benefits by February 28th, millions could lose benefits and hundreds of thousands of related jobs could be lost.
Tell Congress to stop the bleeding! Urgent action is needed to create jobs and reauthorize unemployment insurance now!
Just follow the steps:
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Start with Our Sample Letter To Congress
You can copy-and-paste the sample letter and use it as a foundation for your own letter.
Dear Member of Congress
When reckless Wall Street gambling collapsed the economy, the U.S. government stepped in with $14 trillion in emergency funds, loans and guarantees for the big banks on Wall Street. The banks are bouncing back and paying record bonuses this year.
But here on Main Street things are not so rosy. In December, 85,000 Americans lost their jobs. 26 million people are now without jobs or the full-time work they need to support their families.
In March, one million Americans will lose their unemployment insurance unless Congress acts. That number will grow steeply in the months that follow, driving even more families into bankruptcy and weakening an already fragile economy.
Unemployment insurance has a strong stimulus effect. Mark Zandi of Moody's economy.com estimates that for every $1 in UI benefits the government spends, it creates $1.69 in economic stimulus in the communities where recipients live. Were this money to stop flowing through local supermarkets, pharmacies, utility providers, mortgage companies/banks, the impact would be devastating. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that failure to extend these benefits through the end of 2010 could result in job loss of up to 800,000 people nation-wide.
Stop the bleeding! Please take swift action to reauthorize unemployment insurance for those on the program now and make job creation your top priority in 2010.
Sincerely
Your Name
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Customize Your Letter with Talking Points
Use our Talking Points On Unemployment Insurance page to help personalize your letter. Clicking the link will open a new window containing the page so you can keep your place on this page.
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Find Your Legislator
If you don't already know your congressional represenative, use the Project Vote Smart widget on the right panel of this page to find your congressional representatives. After you've noted your representative, click the back button on your browser to come back to this point.
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Post or Fax Your Letter
Click on the website for a form to contact your representatives. You can paste the sample letter and make edits or compose your own personal message. Or use the fax number to fax a printed copy of your letter.
Name Title Web Site Fax Number Chuck Grassley (R) Senator Website 202-224-6020 Tom Harkin (D) Senator Website 202-224-9369 Bruce Braley (D) Representative - District 1 Website 202-225-9129 David Loebsack (D) Representative - District 2 Website 202-226-0757 Leonard Boswell (D) Representative - District 3 Website 202-225-5608 Tom Latham (R) Representative - District 4 Email, Website 202-225-3301 Steve King (R) Representative - District 5 Website 202-225-3193
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How to Lobby
As citizens and voters it's our job to hold our elected officials accountable. To be accountable, they must understand how we feel about the issues that affect our lives and that we care about deeply. By getting involved in the political process, we can work to ensure accountability. ICAN provides the following Lobbying Tools so that ordinary citizens can get active and build accountability from the grassroots up.
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You may fill out online, then print and mail, this registration form on the Iowa Secretary of State's website. Completed voter registration forms should be returned to the county auditor's office in the county where you live.