OUTLOOK IS BLEAK FOR MILLIONS FACING CUTOFF OF JOBLESS BENEFITS

Derrisa Green is falling further behind on rent. Sylvia Soliz has had her electricity cut off.

Unemployment has forced aching decisions on millions of Americans and their families in the face of a rampaging viral pandemic that has closed shops and restaurants, paralyzed travel and left millions jobless for months. Now, their predicaments stand to grow bleaker yet if Congress fails to extend two unemployment programs that are set to expire the day after Christmas.

If no agreement is reached in negotiations taking place on Capitol Hill, more than 9 million people will lose federal jobless aid that averages about $320 a week and that typically serves as their only source of income.

Green, 39, and her husband are among them. An end to their unemployment benefits would force them to keep missing rent payments on their home in Dyer, Ind., near Chicago. The couple have eight children. Green’s husband is a self-employed truck driver whose business disappeared when the pandemic erupted in the spring.

He now receives about $235 a week in unemployment aid. Even so, “all of our bills are late,” Green said.

The end of jobless aid is approaching at an especially perilous time. Even with the prospect of an effective vaccine being widely distributed in coming months, economists say the picture will worsen before it improves. Many foresee a net loss of jobs in December for the first time since April.

On Friday, Presidentelect Joe Biden called on Congress to quickly approve a bipartisan $908 billion package that would establish a $300-a-week jobless benefit as well as send aid to states and localities, help schools and universities, revive subsidies for businesses and support transit systems and airlines.

More than 20 million people are now receiving unemployment benefits. More than half are beneficiaries of two programs that were part of rescue aid legislation Congress enacted in March. About 9.1 million who are receiving aid from those programs will be cut off Dec. 26, according to a report from the Century Foundation. An additional 4.4 million are expected to exhaust the maximum 39 weeks of support by year’s end. If Congress agrees to provide more weeks of aid and to revive both programs, those beneficiaries could keep receiving aid next year.

That would be a lifesaver for Sylvia Soliz, who lives in Corpus Christi, Texas. Soliz, 36, who still owes part of her rent for November and December, has received an eviction notice. She’s also just had her electricity cut off.

Back in March, Soliz was laid off from her job as a nurse’s assistant at a senior living facility. She’s receiving $414 in jobless aid every two weeks.

With four children, it doesn’t go very far, and she says she’s worried about losing her aid.

A cutoff of jobless benefits now would be unusually early compared with previous recessions. In the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008-2009, the government extended unemployment benefits to 99 weeks, and the additional aid lasted through 2013.

When that program ended, about 1.3 million people lost benefits — a small fraction of the number who would lose jobless aid this time.