Unemployment Compensation Extension Act Of 2009
Floor Speech
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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman from Washington, and I rise in support of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, a year ago this week Barack Obama was elected President in the midst of the greatest economic crisis in almost three-quarters of a century. Since his inauguration and the swearing in of the 111th Congress, we have been working hard to turn our economy around and put America and Americans back to work.
And whether we are Democrats or Republicans, there is reason for hope in the results we have seen in that time, because they mean growing economic security for the people we represent. We're not there, we need to keep working on it, but we've made progress.
Last month, we saw news that the American economy grew at a rate of 3.5 percent between July and September. That, Mr. Speaker, is the best growth in 2 years and a reversal of four quarters of decline. That's progress. It is not yet success.
According to Moody's, the Congressional Budget Office and the Council of Economic Advisors, the Recovery Act has saved or created about 1 million jobs. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently concluded that the Recovery Act kept 6 million Americans from falling into poverty and reduced the severity of poverty for 33 million Americans. It was the right thing to do. But we're not there yet. Facts like these have combined to convince unbiased observers that the recession the President inherited is over.
Yet that is not the whole picture. For millions of American families struggling with unemployment, the recession is not over. It's not over until their loved ones get back to work, until they have a job, until they can pay for the housing and the food and the clothing and the schooling their families need.
So we in Congress cannot consider the work of recovery done until those jobs are back. The truth is that long-term unemployment remains at its highest rate since we began measuring it in 1948. Over 33 percent of the total unemployed have been out of work for more than 26 weeks.
And because it's harder to get hired the longer you've been out of the workforce, long-term unemployment can become a vicious cycle. This bill lends a hand to nearly 2 million Americans whose unemployment insurance is set to run out by the end of the year. It extends their unemployment insurance by up to 14 weeks, and by a further 6 weeks in the States with the most difficult job markets. This means they will be able to survive; not thrive, but survive.
Who are those 2 million Americans and who will benefit? Many of them are middle-class Americans who lost their jobs without warning. According to a survey recently conducted at the Rutgers University, ``Six in 10 of those whose employer had let them go had no advance warning.'' What a wrenching experience that was, for them, for their spouses, for their children and, yes, for their entire extended families, as well as their communities.
Adding to the pain for many, nearly four in 10 said they had been employed by their company for more than 3 years and one in 10 more than a decade. These were people with stable jobs and commitments based upon those stable jobs, such as college payments and mortgages. People have found the ground falling out from under them through no fault of their own. We owe it to them, Mr. Speaker, and their families to help, and we owe it to our economic health as well.
The money provided by unemployment insurance quickly goes to necessities and boosts local economies. In fact, according to the CBO, every dollar we spend on unemployment insurance generates $1.61 in local economic activity, making this bill an investment that pays off for all of us, so we have a win-win situation here. We help people in very bad straits; and we help our economy and help us all. I am also glad that this bill is fiscally sound. It's fully paid for. It does not contribute to the deficit.
Though we have made progress since the depths of last winter and the depths of the recession inherited by President Obama and this Congress, there is, as I have said, clearly more work to do. We pledge to continue that work. We can take action today for those families for whom recovery is not yet a reality, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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