At a JEC hearing this morning, BLS Commissioner Dr. Keith Hall highlighted that November’s long-term unemployment rate was higher than at any other time that Congress cut off federal unemployment benefits.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Chair of the JEC, released the followed statement today reacting to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform’s recommendations for reducing the federal deficit.

A new report by the JEC finds that prematurely ending the federal unemployment insurance benefits program would drain the economy of $80 billion in purchasing power and result in the loss of over one million jobs over the next year.

A new JEC report finds that Social Security accounts for more than two-thirds of all income for women aged 65 and over, and that any efforts to tinker with this program could have a dramatic impact on retired women who rely on Social Security benefits to make ends meet.