President Obama signs unemployment extention bill - White House Photo

Following Congressional grandstanding and delays, last week the president inked the legislation extending critical unemployment insurance to Floridians and another 2.3 million unemployed Americans, who are finding it difficult to land jobs in the current economic climate.

The extension of unemployment benefits was one of three important legislations the president signed last week to help ease the economic pressures from the prolonged recession. The other legislations were, the new Wall Street Reform (financial regulatory) Law and the Improper Payment Elimination and Recovery Law, aimed at removing waste and inefficiencies from the federal administration.

Since the first week of June, Senate Republicans had blocked the extension of unemployment benefits. However, through the determination and maneuvers by Democratic Senators, the hurdles were overcome to enable passage of the legislation, securing the support of Republican senators George Lemeiux of Florida, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and George Voinovich of Ohio.

Following the senate’s approval, the bill was comfortably passed in the House of Representatives. Without the extension, most qualified unemployed individuals would find that their unemployment benefits, which amount to a maximum of $300 per week in Florida, terminated at the end of July.

In a statement made on signing the extension of unemployment benefits, President Obama said that as significant as the extension was, the administration’s ultimate goal is to ensure that people looking for jobs can find jobs. “That’s why it’s so important for the Senate to pass the additional steps that I’ve asked for to cut taxes and expand lending for America’s small businesses, our most important engine for hiring and for growth,” Obama said. “And a small business jobs bill that contains these measures may come up for a final vote in the Senate in the next few days.”

Obama said under this bill the government would establish a new loan fund to help community banks offer small businesses the loans they need to grow and to hire workers. The president also hailed the Republican senators who crossed party lines to support the unemployment bill.

Although the extension of unemployment benefits extends the deadline to file for this benefit to November 30, a representative of a Miami office of the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said because the benefits for some people lapsed, it could take a while before they begin getting payments again.

“The delay in the program has caused logistic problems, most involving the software program that is used to manage the unemployment compensation operations. Plus, there has to be verification to ensure those making claims were still unemployed during the period when their payments were suspended. But, we can assure those eligible for payments that every hindrance will be removed to ensure that payments are disbursed as quickly as possible.” The agency administers the state’s unemployment compensation program.

According to a report, the federal advocacy coordinator at the National Employment Law Project, Judy Conti, said those seeking benefits should check their state agency's website for updates and instructions on restarting their payments and claiming any retroactive amounts.