Hinchey: Worried about the economy

Kingston – Congressman Maurice Hinchey is worried about the unemployed and the slow economy, and he doesn’t think lawmakers are doing enough to help either situation.

Hinchey addressed his concerns Tuesday at the Ulster County Office of Employment & Training to job seekers, and he’s especially upset with the Senate’s recent failure to pass an extension of unemployment benefits while the national unemployment rate stands at around 9.3 percent.

“So they can be secure to some extent, at least – until they get the next job. They need the unemployment insurance,” said Hinchey, who has voted on several occasions to extend unemployment benefits.

And as the economy teeters toward stagnation, Hinchey said these benefits need to continue help any growth move forward.

“I think the growth is going to potentially stop, and we have a lot of insightful people looking into this. We know this needs to be done. We have a large number of people that are unemployed,” he said.

The nation is currently mired in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Money was then poured into infrastructure to improve our transportation system. Hinchey said that needs to happen right now.

“We wised up back then. We did a lot of positive things to change that situation, fixing the roads, making sure the bridges don’t fall down. Simple things like that,” he said. “We need that kind of investment in construction jobs.”