TANF Emergency Funds and Jobs Program – Illinois

Jobs hang in balance, By Gerry Smith, September 6, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “Moises Vasquez was laid off in March from a chicken processing plant, but he was not unemployed for long. One month later he found a job at a granite and marble recycling company in Schiller Park. But his new employer, Earth Stone Products of Illinois, does not pay his wages. Uncle Sam does. Vasquez, 27, is one of about 25,000 people employed through Put Illinois to Work, a subsidized jobs program that helps unemployed workers gain new skills with $200 million from the federal stimulus package. Since the program was announced in April, Put Illinois to Work has become the nation’s largest year-round subsidized employment program. In June, state officials stopped accepting applications because there were not enough jobs for the 60,000 people who applied. But in coming weeks, Vasquez and other workers supported by the program could be unemployed again unless Congress extends the fund that supports Put Illinois to Work. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund expires Sept. 30. An extension of the federal fund has been packaged in larger bills that passed the House twice but stalled in the Senate after Republicans and some Democrats said the legislation would increase the deficit…”