Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 3630, Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. BERG. I thank the gentleman from Texas who understands the best solutions come from those people that are closest to the problem.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the Democrats' motion to instruct. With section 2123 of House bill 3630, we give States the waiver authority for unemployment insurance to test and expedite re-employment on individuals who are receiving unemployment benefits. We are empowering the States, who know their workers best, to be creative, to be innovative and to do more for workers to get them back to work.

In my home State of North Dakota where the unemployment rate is the lowest in the Nation, we have tremendous re-employment programs that are operated through job service. The participants in these re-employment programs have even said, I would make this program a permanent feature so that all people who are unemployed have a chance to utilize it. And others who said, You will learn something you never thought about before. No one goes away without something.

Instead of continuing the same Washington business-as-usual, inflexible approach to unemployment insurance, it's critical that we make commonsense reforms now.

To me it's obvious: States know their workers best. Let's empower them. It's time for Washington to learn from the States, give them the flexibility they need.

With that, I urge my colleagues to oppose the Democrat motion to instruct and support the underlying bill.

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