CONCORD, N.H. -- It looks like millions of Americans will enter the new year without jobless benefits they've been receiving during the pandemic, including more than 19,000 people in New Hampshire, according to a new Century Foundation report.

On December 26, two crucial unemployment programs from the CARES Act expire: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for people who aren't eligible for state unemployment benefits, such as gig workers and contractors; and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which extended exhausted state benefits.

Report author Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, described it as "the last economic safety net" from the CARES Act, and said it will mean tough choices for many.

"Do I sell my car? Do I move out of my house? Do I cut out a meal? Do I postpone that medicine that I need? These are things that not only have an immediate effect, they have a lasting effect," Stettner said.

Other CARES Act benefits - the one-time, $1,200 stimulus payments and an extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits - already ended. Stettner said with the pandemic and health and safety precautions states are taking, finding work this winter will be a challenge for many.

With vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19 in the works, Stettner sees these unemployment programs as a way to "hunker down" economically until the nation emerges next year in better times.

"We've never cut off this many workers at once before," he said. "You know, we've had other logjams in the past where these programs have lapsed in previous recessions, but we've never been this many people."

Stettner, along with other advocates and lawmakers, hopes Congress will recognize the immediate and urgent need to pass more jobless benefits, even if they can't yet agree on all the contents of a potential pandemic-relief package. New Hampshire's representatives in Congress have all been pushing for relief for constituents.


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NEW YORK -- Members of the New York Nurses Association (NYSNA) union are sounding the alarm about what they say is a nursing shortage at hospitals in New York City and around the state.

Noemi DeJesus-Aponte, president of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital nurses bargaining unit, said at a rally this week burnout and retention issues are contributing to a staffing crisis there that began during the pandemic.

She argued patient care is being compromised due to heavy caseloads, and is a problem across New York.

"There are patients that are ignored for hours on end because a crisis walks through the door; a trauma or heart attack," DeJesus-Aponte observed. "So, what does that mean to that nurse that does one-to-one? She's going to ignore the other 15 or 16 patients that she has."

In a statement, New York-Presbyterian said it is navigating the pandemic challenges and adding nursing professionals to its care teams.

New laws take effect in January for every hospital in the state, establishing minimum staffing standards for intensive and critical care units. However, hospitals have until the following year to implement committees' suggested changes.

Nurses are demanding hospital systems take action sooner, by hiring more nurses now.

Union members contended there has been a hiring freeze at New York Presbyterian, and temporary, traveling nurses have been brought in.

Nancy Hagans, president of NYSNA, does not see the approach as a sufficient solution.

"You bring in the travelers for 90 days, and they leave," Hagans pointed out. "You're using a Band-aid to cover a bleed. When we have a bleed, we put a pressure on the bleed. What do we do? We take the patient to the O.R., we fix the problem."

In the next month, NYSNA members said they plan to rally at other hospitals in New York City and the Hudson Valley to raise awareness about the issue.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Congress is close to passing the Build Back Better plan, and policy groups are hopeful a provision to ensure more Ohioans can access paid leave will remain.

The social-spending plan initially offered 12 weeks of paid leave for workers, which has since been scaled down to four weeks.

Elizabeth Brown, executive director of the Ohio Women's Public Policy Network, explained 72% of Ohio households with kids have two parents working, and one in four moms return to their jobs within 10 days after having a baby.

She noted paid leave is not just about working mothers, but also working daughters.

"Workers in our economy are not just responsible for providing care for their children but also their parents, their spouses, their siblings as our economy ages," Brown observed. "And women's wages support their household. In Ohio, 55% of mothers are key family breadwinners."

In Ohio, about one in five workers have paid family leave, and only two in five can access unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

Kate McCleese, senior campaign manager for Paid Leave for the United States, contended paid leave, including personal medical leave, promotes workforce participation and results in better health for workers.

"Just think about the difference that access to paid leave would have on people undergoing cancer treatments or who are forced to leave their job just to have a necessary surgery," McCleese urged. "Paid leave ties you to the workforce and your health insurance."

It's estimated roughly 18 million workers per year would benefit from the proposed paid-leave program in Congress.

McCleese added it would reduce disparities in the workforce.

"At the beginning of this pandemic, only 25% of workers had access to any amount of paid leave," McCleese outlined. "And it was way worse for low-wage workers who are disproportionately people of color. Only 8% of low-wage workers had any type of paid leave."

Ohio is not among the nearly dozen states requiring paid sick leave from private-sector companies.

Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- More affordable child care, universal Pre-K, an extension of the child tax credit, a new hearing, vision and dental benefit for Medicare are all part of the Build Back Better reconciliation bill currently being negotiated in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., spoke Tuesday at a tele-town hall hosted by the group Battle Born Progress.

Masto said the so-called "human infrastructure" bill would be a historic investment in American families.

"The focus of this legislation is to cut taxes for the middle class," Masto explained. "To make sure that we are doing everything we can to lower costs for Americans, and we are creating jobs and expanding our economy."

The Build Back Better proposal would open up 200,000 additional slots in subsidized child care, with the family contribution capped at no more than 7% of income. It would also keep the checks from the child tax credit rolling in; up to $300 a month for kids up to age 5 and $250 a month for older children. Opponents say the bill is too costly.

Lee said the Build Back Better reconciliation bill would do a lot to lower health-care costs for seniors by allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices on prescription drugs and penalizing companies that raise drug prices faster than inflation.

"We're going to establish a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for seniors, including a $35-per-month cap for insulin," Lee noted.

The reconciliation bill would also make major investments in affordable housing and in programs to expand jobs in the clean-energy economy and fight climate change.