Food banks prep for onslaught as jobless aid ends

Well, what would you expect to happen when the federal benefits expire tomorrow and millions of Americans (454,000 Californians between now and the end of the year) are without unemployment help? This week, reports the OC Register, 150,000 laid-off workers in the state will be receiving notices that advise them of the cutoff. From the HuffPost:

"We are bracing for it," said Vicki Escarra, CEO of Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief charity, in an interview with HuffPost. Escarra said that Feeding America's 200 member food banks across the country feed nearly six million people every week. "I can assure you, if these unemployment insurance benefits are not reinstated we'll see these numbers go way up," Escarra said.

Federal funding has provided up to 73 weeks of jobless aid on top of the 26 weeks of state aid. The federal part is set to begin expiring this week because Congress has not yet reauthorized it - and many Republican lawmakers are opposed to any extension (though Democrats are trying to package an extension into the tax cut legislation).

The Congressional Budget Office recently reported that extended unemployment benefits prevented record poverty in 2009 and were used mostly by middle-class Americans. Households with total income more than twice the poverty threshold received 70 percent of the $120 billion the federal government spent on unemployment benefits last year. Part of the reason is that the benefits themselves push families into higher-income groups.