Members of Congress are back from recess, and now that they’ve traded in their flip-flops for sensible shoes, their first order of business will likely be voting on whether to extend unemployment benefits for more than 10 million Americans who are in imminent danger of losing their benefits.
As part of our ongoing effort to cover the crisis in state unemployment insurance systems, we have been hearing from people in that very situation, like 61-year-old Kathairein Magdalena in Irving, Texas, who lost her unemployment benefits this month.
She has been cutting grass and cleaning houses for extra cash, but if her benefits are not reinstated, she writes, “I do not know what will happen to me. I have set aside money for utilities, etc. and I have rent money set aside that will carry me through August 20.
“After that, if I have not found work … I will be homeless.”