Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. I thank the gentleman.

This proposal certainly does represent a visit from the ghost of Christmas past--last Christmas to be specific--when Republicans stood here and said only a lump of coal for the unemployed until you stuff every stocking to overflowing.

Well, today's Republican bill would eliminate up to 40 weeks of unemployment coverage with the biggest cuts coming in States like mine, Texas, with high unemployment rates. That means that next year over 3 million unemployed Americans and their families will be shortchanged if this bill is enacted. Long-term unemployment in America today has not been this high, for this long, in 60 years. We have over 6 million fewer jobs now than when the recession began and more than four workers for every job opening. And in 10 States, this bill responds by making it possible to no longer require that unemployment insurance funds are used for unemployment insurance benefits.

Under the Democratic alternative that I have introduced, unemployment would be available only to those who are actively searching for a job, getting job training, or who are out there in a temporary layoff situation. Nor is an unemployment check any substitute for a paycheck. As The New York Times editorialized this morning: ``When was the last time any Republican lawmaker tried to live on $289 a week, the amount of the average unemployment benefit?''

And this same measure also offers a lump of coal for Medicare. I believe in seeking efficiencies in Medicare. That's one reason why we voted for the Affordable Care Act, to ensure that billions of dollars were saved. But the billions that are cut from other health care providers in today's bill come on top of across-the-board cuts that are already enacted and will be effective within about the next year.

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Mr. DOGGETT. At some point, cuts to hospitals and nursing homes mean that seniors and the disabled will be unable to access the quality care that they need. And this bill's $8 billion cut to preventable chronic disease programs like heart disease and diabetes is shortsighted and will cost us more in the long run than it saves.

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