Washington - Congressman Tim Bishop voted to help Long Island's economy and provide stability to families hit hardest by the recession by extending the home buyers' tax credit, unemployment benefits and tax relief for military families and businesses. The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act will provide immediate assistance, extending relief to millions of workers, families and businesses nationwide.

"Both Republicans and Democrats agree that we need to provide this immediate relief to struggling Long Islanders who have lost, or are on the verge of losing, their unemployment benefits in order to get our economy moving in the right direction," Bishop said. "In addition, the extension of the home buyer tax credit will continue to help stabilize our housing market as this tax credit has already done in recent months."

The legislation is fully paid for and will provide immediate, effective stimulus to the local economy. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has cited unemployment benefits as one of the most cost-effective forms of economic stimulus, as every dollar spent on unemployment benefits generates $1.63 in new demand, according to Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi.

The bill includes an extension of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit through April 30, 2010, and provides a $6,500 credit to new purchasers who have lived in their current residence for five years or more. It also helps military families struggling to make mortgage payments by making those payments tax-exempt.

To breathe life back into American businesses suffering from huge losses, this bill allows U.S. companies to carry back losses incurred in either 2008 or 2009 against income earned in any of the five prior years.

The legislation will provide families in New York with 14 weeks of additional benefits and six more weeks to the 27 states with the highest unemployment rates - where it is most difficult for workers to find employment. Workers in these high unemployment states who have exhausted or will soon exhaust their benefits will be eligible for a total of 20 additional weeks of emergency unemployment compensation.