Today, Democrats continue to promise extending unemployment benefits a 13th time will somehow create thousands of jobs. It won’t.
President Obama: “Independent economists have shown that extending emergency unemployment insurance actually helps the economy, actually creates new jobs.”
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “Economists agree that unemployment benefits remain one of the best ways to grow the economy in a very immediate way.”
Rep. Sandy Levin: “Unemployment insurance helps promote economic growth -- CBO estimates 200,000 fewer jobs in 2014 without extension.”
Majority Leader Harry Reid: “Failing to restore emergency assistance would not only be a crushing blow to the long-term unemployed, it would be a blow to our economy. Americans use their unemployment benefits to buy food and fuel at local gas stations, to pay the landlord or to purchase a child a winter coat at a local department store. That's why for every $1 we spend on unemployment insurance, the economy grows by $1.50."
In fact, recent research suggests that extending unemployment benefits actually stifles job creation by employers.