Wyden, Bennet, Democratic Colleagues Urge Full Funding of Unemployment Insurance Administration
Wyden Also Blasts Trump Administration’s Recent Decision to Revoke Grants Helping States Improve UI Systems and Fight Fraud
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Finance Committee Member Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and Ways and Means Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support Ranking Member Danny Davis (D-Ill.), and 27 colleagues urged the Senate and House Appropriations Committees in May to fully fund Unemployment Insurance (UI) administration to ensure workers receive their earned benefits.
The Democratic members wrote, “The UI system is not only vital for helping workers keep a roof over their head and food on the table when they lose their job, but it also provides vital economic stimulus that can help the economy recover from a downturn. If Congress doesn’t invest now, states will continue to struggle to administer their UI programs, our economy will suffer, and workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own will pay the price.”
As Democrats fight to strengthen state UI systems, the Trump administration recently announced that it would terminate more than $400 million in grant funding that Democrats secured to help states modernize their UI systems.
Wyden blasted that decision, saying, “Just as Trump is injecting chaos into our economy and jeopardizing jobs nationwide, he’s sabotaging a key financial lifeline for workers. Burning down fragile unemployment insurance systems is not the answer to helping workers who have lost their job get back up on their feet. When the next crisis hits and workers are left waiting weeks and months for their benefits to kick in, they’ll have Donald Trump to blame.”
States were overwhelmed with a number of unprecedented claims to distribute unemployment insurance when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020. Millions of workers were forced to wait months for their benefits, and many struggled to reach people at their state unemployment agencies to help them. Underinvestment in UI administration was among the reasons states were unprepared to deal with the surge of pandemic-era claims, demonstrating a critical need to increase funding.
Specifically, the senators requested at least $3.5 million funding for states’ UI systems and at least $50 million for critical national activities related to UI administration in the Fiscal Year of 2026.
Wyden has been an advocate in the Senate fighting to improve UI. In July 2024, then-Finance Committee Chair Wyden and then-Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced bipartisan legislation that would make key improvements to the nation’s unemployment insurance system. In October 2023, Wyden and Bennet introduced their proposal to overhaul the nation’s unemployment insurance system.
The text of the letter including the full list of signatories is here.
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