More than 40 religious leaders from the North Shore and elsewhere in the Chicago area have sent a letter to Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), calling on him to help families struggling with unemployment. The clergy have asked Sen. Kirk to support the extension of emergency unemployment compensation (EUC), a federal program that provides unemployment aid after state benefits have been exhausted. This aid helps families pay bills and put food on the table, while they seek work in a difficult job market. EUC expired last December, and Congress has so far been unable to reinstate it, causing more than 2 million people to lose this vital assistance, including more than 110,000 from Illinois.<\/p>\n
Sen. Kirk has twice voted against reinstating EUC, even though the unemployment rate in Illinois is 8.9 percent\u201d\u201dthe third highest in the nation. The last vote, which happened in February, fell one vote short of passage. Sen. Kirk\u2019s \u201cno\u201d\u009d is widely seen as decisive in killing that bill, and he will hold the key vote when the Senate again considers the bill, which may be as early as next week. The letter follows….<\/p>\n