Unemployment Benefits Become Fraying Safety Net

Jun 30, 2010 8:41 pm US/Eastern

Reporting
Michael Williams
E-mail MIAMI (CBS4) ―

File: Rashad Ingraham (L-R) William Haselberger, Dietrick Purvis and Carlos Estevez, all unemployed, look for a job at the Diversity Job Fair on Sept. 24, 2009, in Davie, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The unemployment rate hovers around 12 percent in Miami-Dade and Broward. That means misery for tens of thousands of people, and it is now compounded by a cutoff of federal unemployment benefits. The House has approved an extension of those benefits and Senate Democrats vow to press for a vote on the $34 billion dollar proposal Thursday.

Republican deficit hawks may block the way though, and people like Teresa Miranda are not sure what they will do next. She lost her accounting office job last summer in the Miami area, and her $1100 a month unemployment check stopped coming in a few weeks ago.

A tearful Miranda told CBS4 News, "The unemployment quit and I don't know what to do. I have nothing, savings are exhausted, no money for rent in July."

Miranda also has a message for the U.S. Senate, where fierce debate over balancing jobless benefits against budget deficit worries has stalled any extension of unemployment compensation. Miranda argued, "The Senate better open your eyes and realize what you are doing to us. We elected you to help us. I don't see what you are doing for us."

Miranda is single, with two adult sons who are on their own now and facing their own job struggles. She counts on donated food twice a month from a local church to help her get by.

"I'm an American, I was born in this country," she said. "I feel belittled to have to come here to have to get food to live to eat. It is embarrassing to me."

It is embarrassing but necessary, especially when every job Miranda seeks is packed with desperate people. She said, "When you do go, there are 150 applicants."

And so, for now at least, Miranda lives on the charity of others and relies on her faith for a journey she never imagined, and one with no end in sight.