LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Hundreds of thousands of Californians – including several hundred Lake County residents – are set to lose federal unemployment benefit extensions within days unless the president and Congress take action.
California Employment Development Department confirmed to Lake County News that the federal benefits are set to come to an abrupt halt by the end of this week for some 346,000 Californians, with no action yet taken by President Barack Obama or Congress on this aspect of the “fiscal cliff.”
Approximately 755 Lake County residents will be affected by the ending of the federal benefit extensions, the Employment Development Department reported.
Those benefits for the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program are not the same as the regular state unemployment insurance payments, which will continue and are not affected by the federal stalemate, the agency said.
The most recent numbers available, for this past October, showed that 1,556 Lake County residents were certified for state unemployment benefits, which will not be interrupted.
Earlier this month, the Employment Development Department sent letters notifying the recipients of the federal benefit extensions about the end to the program, which won’t continue payments even if recipients still have an existing balance due them. Those letters also advised of alternative assistance programs.
In July 2008, as the impacts of the recession were beginning to be felt, the first tier of the federal unemployment benefit extensions became available for Californians, the Employment Development Department reported.
State and federal benefits combined could, at one point, provide up to 99 weeks of benefits. The Employment Development Department said that was reduced to 73 weeks this past September.
The state said $40 billion in federal benefit extensions have been paid to out-of-work Californians in the four and a half years since the federal program started.
The Employment Development Department said more than 928,000 unemployed Californians have exhausted all available benefits on the state and federal levels.
The Employment Development Department urged those affected to monitor its Web site, www.edd.ca.gov , or its Twitter account, www.twitter.com/CA_EDD , for updates.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.