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Support those still struggling

Ask your senators to protect assistance for those left jobless by Katrina & Rita

On June 4th, unemployment assistance expired for 83,000 workers who lost their jobs to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, because Congress failed to extend those benefits before taking a one week paid vacation.

Congress can still extend those benefits, and several Republicans and Democrats have pushed to continue the assistance, but a group of senators is trying to block the extension because they assume these folks are lazy. It's insulting and out of touch. They need to hear that this is unacceptable, and senators of good conscience need to stand up for those in from the Gulf that are still at risk.

Please take a moment to tell your senator to pass an extension of disaster unemployment assistance immediately.

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Read the e-mail message that we sent to our members about this petition.

Here is the letter that we'll send to your senators, unless your create your own. The letter will have your name on it.

Dear Senator [your senator's name]

I am writing to ask that you act immediately to extend disaster unemployment benefits for survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita by pressing for quick passage of S. 3030.

Disaster unemployment assistance expired on June 4th for 83,000 workers who are unemployed because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They are hard-working citizens who had jobs before the storm. While thousands have left the jobless rolls, those remaining are still struggling to find work. To end their meager unemployment benefits -- which pay $104 a week, on average -- would be heartless and wrong.

There is no excuse for allowing thousands of families -- survivors of our country's worst natural disaster -- to be thrust into abject poverty. It is government's responsibility to provide basic security for citizens, especially when circumstances beyond their control undermine that security. I ask that you fulfill that responsibility -- and your duty as an elected official -- by passing a 13-week extension to disaster unemployment assistance immediately.

Sincerely,

[your name here]