Lawmakers, others urged to remember the hungry during holidays
Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Federal lawmakers should pass a second economic stimulus package, and provide more unemployment benefits, U. S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, DArk. says in a Nov. 20 interview.
“ Approximately 68, 000 Arkansans are unemployed and a bill pending in the Senate would extend unemployment insurance by seven weeks for our state... We just don’t know if the vote’s going to come up or when it’s going to come up.... Congress shouldn’t wait until next year to provide a comprehensive economic stimulus package along with these unemployment benefits and that package should include funding for infrastructure, education, nutrition priorities — a whole host of things that are truly emergency needs at this point, in terms of our economy, ” Lincoln says in the interview.
It would help Arkansas’s working families, farmers, and food banks, she says in the interview and in a press release.
Last week, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, she called for emergency assistance for farmers who suffered crop losses from a natural disaster or any related condition, Lincoln says in the release.
“ Farmers in Arkansas and other southern states faced severe flooding in the spring as well as the devastating storms of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which destroyed already planted crops or caused delays in planting. Yet our producers have not benefited from the additional disaster assistance given to Midwestern states that faced similar circumstances this year. Our southern farmers desperately need relief, ” she says in the release.
Also needing help are food banks to serve an increasing number of families due to the economic downturn, Lincoln says in the press release.
The many low-income, working families in Arkansas are especially hard hit by the current situation, and need help, too, she says in the release.
“ These families, who under a more robust economy would not experience food insecurity, will be facing food shortages in their households. At such times, food banks and the agencies that they serve perform an especially critical role in providing for the health and stability of families and communities, ” she says in the press release.
Congress approved one economic stimulus package earlier this year.
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