Extending federal unemployment benefits would actually be a “disservice” to the millions of out-of-work Americans who receive them, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday.
“I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they’re paid for. If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers,” the popular Tea Party Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“When you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you’re causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy,” Paul added.
Paul’s comments come in response to efforts by congressional Democrats to extend the benefits as part of a year-end budget deal, but most Republicans have rejected the package due to the estimated $25 billion price tag.
About 1.3 million jobless Americans are slated to lose their federal benefits at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t renew the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program that provides a federal safety net to the long-term jobless whose state benefits have expired.