Politics & Government
Jobless Michigan Worker Invited to State of the Union Address
An unemployed legal secretary who lost her unemployment benefits last month will be U.S. Rep. Sander Levin's guest at the State of the Union.
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U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, has invited St. Clair Shores resident Josie Maisano to be his guest at the State of the Union Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Levin met Maisano recently at a lunch for unemployed workers where she read a letter describing the challenges of finding a job.
According to a release, Maisano shared how she was an administrative assistant in the automotive industry and went back to school to get a certificate as a legal secretary. She stated that she had difficulty finding a new job in a field where she had no experience, and that she had been laid-off from a mortgage company seven months ago.
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Maisano added that she had been receiving unemployment insurance to help pay bills as she looked for work, but she was one of 1.6 million who lost their benefits in December when the federal unemployment insurance program was not renewed.
"I am convinced that if every Member of Congress would meet with unemployed workers, like Josie, in their District – or if the unemployed were able to come to D.C. – we would re-start the program immediately," Levin wrote in the release.
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Maisano will join other unemployed workers from around the country in the balcony of the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the release.
“I hope I will play an integral part in getting this important issue passed as it affects not only me, but so many others as well," she said in the release.
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