December 1, 2020 10:15 a.m.

Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are urging Senate leadership to include extensions of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs in the next coronavirus relief package.

A release said both of those programs are set to expire on December 26th.

The senators, and a group of 30 others sent a written request to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

That letter said as the virus surges going into the winter months, “…the loss of benefits at this time is particularly cruel”. The letter said a recent report from The Century Foundation suggests that nearly 12 million workers could lose coverage once those programs expire over the holidays.

The release said Congress created the PUA program to help workers who normally wouldn’t be eligible for unemployment assistance such as domestic workers, freelance workers, contractors and other workers in alternative work arrangements. The release said the PEUC program was designed to extend unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed who exhaust their unemployment benefits.

The letter said, “To address the economic hardships workers are facing during this time, these programs should be extended with additional weeks of eligibility for workers”.