110th Congress

Washington, D.C. – The Joint Economic Committee (JEC), chaired by Sen. Charles E. Schumer, released a report today, requested by Vice Chair Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, calling for the extension of unemployment insurance benefits to combat the contracting labor market.  Friday’s release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Report revealed an jump in the unemployment rate and the third consecutive month of job losses for the first time in five years.  With the number of UI beneficiaries exhausting their claims already on the rise and no end in sight to the current economic downturn, the report argues that past Republican obstructionism must be overcome in order to provide extended UI benefits for those in need.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement today on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 2008 employment situation, which showed that nonfarm payrolls fell by 80,000 jobs and the unemployment rate jumped to 5.1 percent.  Since November, 300,000 private sector jobs have been lost.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Charles Melancon (D-LA) introduced legislation today that would help keep people in their homes in the wake of a federally declared disaster, such as a hurricane or terrorist attack.  The Mortgage and Rental Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 5685) would provide temporary mortgage or rental financial assistance to homeowners and renters who lost a job or part of their income as a result of a disaster.

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) yesterday delivered a statement on the floor of the House of Representatives expressing her view that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) must cease using the name “Republic of Macedonia,” adopt a name mutually acceptable to both countries, and end its use of propaganda before it is admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  Rep. Maloney, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, also said that the “negotiation process among representatives from Greece and the FYROM should continue, and I hope that a settlement can be reached soon."

Washington, D.C. – Today, the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, Senator Charles E. Schumer and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairman and Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee respectively, sent a letter to President Bush urging him to give a full account of the total costs of the war.  Schumer and Maloney called for a productive debate over the economic impact of the war, and they asked the President to make a member of his administration available in the coming weeks to testify at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee to provide Congress and the American people with a “better understanding of the current and future budgetary and economic costs of the war in Iraq.”