Today's unemployment report underscores that there are simply not enough jobs in this economy for all the people who want work. It is imperative that Congress not abandon long-term unemployed workers by ending the emergency jobless benefits program when it expires on May 31.  And, Congress must move a real program to create jobs and strengthen the economy - not unfair and unaffordable tax and budget policies.

In the last month the unemployment rate jumped to 6 percent, the nation shed another 95,000 manufacturing jobs, and long-term unemployment rose to the same level as in December 2002 - 1. 9 million - when the federal emergency jobless benefits program last expired and Congress belatedly renewed it.

Since President Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, we have lost more than 2.6 million private-sector jobs - an average of nearly 100,000 per month. More of the same failed policies that President Bush wants - including another half-trillion dollars in tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy - will only make matters worse for working families and will actually cost the nation jobs when we need them most.

In addition to providing an additional 26 weeks of benefits, Congress should strengthen the program to provide benefits to more than one million long-term unemployed workers who have exhausted both their state and federal benefits without being able to find work.

Extending the emergency unemployment insurance program throws a vital lifeline to jobless workers and benefits the entire country by pumping $1.73 into the economy for every dollar spent on benefits. By contrast, a dollar spent on cutting dividends taxes for the wealthy that President Bush wants pumps only 9 cents into the economy.

Next week, the House of Representatives is likely to vote on a half-trillion dollar tax package, which will shower most of its benefits on the very wealthy - a so-called jobs and growth strategy that has been tried and has failed. Instead, Congress and the President should turn their attention to deserving workers who cannot find jobs in an economy that is not creating them and who depend on the nation's unemployment insurance system.

Contact: Kathy Roeder (202) 637-5018