President Bush signed HR 3986 on March 25, granting a thirteen-week extension of disaster unemployment assistance to those who lost their jobs as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks. This assistance provides benefits to workers who are ineligible for regular unemployment insurance and lost their jobs as a direct result of a presidentially declared disaster. The new law, sponsored by New York Representative Jack Quinn (R), will affect approximately 2,500 workers, including many hotel workers, janitors and window washers. Their original disaster unemployment assistance began to expire last week.
Unlike an earlier Senate bill (S 1622), which proposed extending the disaster unemployment assistance for twenty-six weeks, this bill will mirror the thirteen-week extension granted for regular unemployment benefits that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law earlier this month.

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