The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to thank you for signing legislation Wednesday evening to extend retroactively additional unemployment benefits to workers whose assistance lapsed during the holidays. Your leadership in securing prompt action on this bipartisan initiative before any disruption of benefits this last weekend was critical. States will now act swiftly to ensure continuity in the benefits.

Governors also appreciate the provision in your economic growth plan to provide grants to states to help Americans get back to work, and we look forward to working with you on the details of your proposal. As Congress begins work on your plan, we hope your administration will consider additional help for Americans who exhausted their benefits in 2002.

Sincerely,