Unemployment
continued from page 1
The Bush-supported Economic
Security and Worker Assistance
Act passed last month in the
House before Congress adjourned,
but was unable to find support in
the Senate.
University students and gradu
ates are feeling the economic
crunch already.
“Our alumni traffic has been
up,” University Career Center di
rector Larry Smith said. The center
used to help three to five grads a
week with job searches; it’s now
three to five a day.
“Oregon clearly needs some as
sistance right now,” Smith said.
Political maneuvering for an
economic stimulus package began
this week when Sen. Tom Daschle,
D-S.D., offered a compromise
package intended to satisfy both
political parties.
Daschle’s compromise, which
Republicans have indicated they
will consider, focuses on issues the
two parties agree on, such as a 13
week extension of unemployment
benefits and a $300 one-time pay
ment for low income workers.
James Daniels, a laid-off Whitti
er Wood Products employee, wel
comed the idea of a $300 one-time
payment.
“I’d probably put it toward
rent,” Daniels said while filing for
unemployment at the Oregon Em
ployment Department in Eugene.
He has been out of a job for more
than a month and is “looking for a
job right away.”
Daniels added that a 13-week
extension would ease the pressure
of finding a job immediately.
But Tim Nesbit, Oregon’s AFL
CIO union president, said the 13
week extension won’t help Oregon
at all. That’s because Oregon has
the worst economy in the nation,
and the 13 extra weeks of unem
ployment benefits are already in
effect in the state. However, it’s
possible that the federal extension,
if implemented, would run con
currently with the state benefits.
“The overlap could work for Ore
gon’s advantage,” Nesbit admitted.
Anne Swensen of the Oregon
Employment Department said the
need for assistance is even greater
in the winter months. During the
winter, there’s a rise in seasonal
unemployment as companies such
as timber industries give out pink
slips. It’s even worse this year.
“We see a lot of people tem
porarily laid off,” Swensen said.
She added that more people than
ever have filed for unemployment
in the last three months. Since Oc
tober, more than 14,000 claims
have been filed with the Eugene
office — an increase of 53.5 per
cent from last year’s figures.
Cindy Puetz, a laid-off Albert
son’s checker, is one of the statis
tics. Right now she’s covered for
health insurance through the Ore
gon Health Plan — but only be
cause she isn’t making any money. •
Puetz said she’s discouraged with
the lack of jobs right now, and has
given up looking. She brightened ’
at the mention of a $300 one-time
payment, however.
“I’d put gas in the car and pay
the electric bill and phone bill,”
Puetz said.
Christian Kremer uses his unem
ployment benefits to subsidize his
job at Tri Willow Nursery. During
the winter months, his company
cuts back his hours to one day a
week. Kremer said that unemploy
ment covers 40 percent of his in
come, and together with his part
time job he manages to get by. While
he isn’t depending on Congress to
help him pay his bills, others are.
“A lot of people are laid-off,”
Kremer said. “For some of them,
it’s an urgent issue.”
For others, unemployment relief
is the last thing on their minds.
Shane Feinstein, a high school stu
dent filling out paperwork at the
Oregon Employment Department,
said she just wants a job, not un
employment assistance.
“I’m looking for a part-time job
to pay the rent,” Feinstein said. Al
though she’s planning to get an
Oregon Trail Card to help with her
grocery bills, she’s hoping to find a
job as soon as possible.
Larry Smith, the Career Center
director, said that students should
n’t give up job searches just be
cause the economy is down.
“It’s going to be harder, it’s go
ing to take more persistence, but
if students work at it, they have a
good chance of getting a job,”
Smith said.
E-mail reporter Brook Reinhard
atbrookreinhard@dailyemerald.com.
Campaign finance laws
brought to House vote
By Jackie Koszczuk
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON—Rebel lawmak
ers in the House of Representatives
forced the Republican leadership
Thursday to let them vote on a bill to
overhaul the nation's campaign fi
nance laws, emboldened by the En
ron scandal and the harsh spotlight it
is shining on money in politics.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R
111., who has blocked efforts to bring
the issue to a vote since last sum
mer, backed down Thursday after
the measure's advocates won the fi
nal signatures they needed to put a
majority of lawmakers behind a pe
tition demanding action.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., pro
vided the 218th signature, giving
supporters a majority of the 435-seat
House. In all, 197 Democrats signed
the petition, joined by 20 Republi
cans and one independent.
That sets the stage for a House
vote this year on a bill that would
make the most sweeping changes to
campaign laws since the post-Wa
tergate revisions of the mid-1970s.
The House bill is co-sponsored by
Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.,
and Martin Meehan, D-Mass. Its
biggest change would be to ban “soft
money,” the five- and six-figure do
nations to the two major political
parties, as distinct from contribu
tions to candidates' campaigns.
A similar bill passed the Senate
last April.
If the House passes the legisla
tion, the new rules could go into ef
fect in time for November's congres
sional elections, when partisan
control of each closely divided
chamber of Congress is up for grabs.
House proponents credited the
Enron scandal with helping them
secure the final signature.
“It shows a majority of the House
is aware of the corrupting influence
of big money in politics,” Shays
said. “The growing Enron scandal,
and the enormous sums of money
the company contributed to gain in
fluence, underscores this point.”
Before it went bankrupt Dec. 2,
Enron was a major player in the
Washington money game. It spent
nearly $6 million on politicians and
both political parties over the past
10 years, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics, a research cen
ter that tracks money in politics.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Economic problems bit home
Oregon has the worst economy in the nation with a record number
of Oregonians filing for unemployment this winter
§i
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