Unemployment Insurance

Floor Speech

Mr. REED. I rise to discuss again the urgent need to restore emergency unemployment insurance.

Like many Americans, I am hopeful about our future but concerned about how the great recession has impacted our fellow Americans, particularly those who have been hit the hardest--the long-term unemployed. These are good people from all walks of life, from all 50 States. They are people who work in a variety of fields, from high tech to manufacturing, from cubicles and offices to plants and factory floors.

Many of them are older and find themselves out of work for the first time in decades. All of them, all 2.78 million of them, lost out on December 28 of last year. While they have been looking for jobs, Congress has failed to do its job and restore unemployment insurance.

Previously, Congress had never let emergency benefits expire when the long-term unemployment rate was so high. Today's long-term unemployment rate is 2.2 percent, and it is still well over the highest rate, 1.3 percent, of previous expirations.

In the past, when the rate was this high for long-term unemployment, we maintained these benefits. This is still an emergency, and we have to maintain these benefits. It still requires our attention and swift bipartisan action.

To the Senate's credit, there has been bipartisan action. Thanks to my Republican colleague from Nevada, Senator Dean Heller, and a coalition of 10 Senators--5 Democrats and 5 Republicans--the Senate passed a 5-month extension of these vital benefits that would provide aid to job seekers who have been searching for work for more than 26 weeks. Senators on both sides of the aisle recognize this is the right thing to do for workers and the smart thing to do for our economy.

So the Senate responded and found a path forward, and it was a difficult path. Majority leader Harry Reid dedicated a vast amount of floor time. Our bipartisan coalition reached a true compromise and stuck together on vote after vote. On April 7, 43 days ago, the full Senate approved the measure.

Unfortunately, Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans in charge have refused to take up our bipartisan legislation or pass their own extension of these emergency efforts. Because of their obstruction, millions of Americans are hurting.

We need to get our country back to full unemployment. That is the fundamental answer--to place people in jobs.

We have to move the country to a place where all Americans have an opportunity to earn a living and build a better life for their families.

Some may be tempted to look at the latest unemployment numbers and say: Well, see, ending job benefits is working because the numbers seem to be falling.

That notion is simply not supported by the facts. This long-term unemployment problem is still, as I mentioned, of significant proportions, and those are precisely the people who benefit from extended unemployment benefits.

A recent study by the Illinois Department of Employment Security found that four of five Illinois workers who lost long-term unemployment benefits at the end of last year were still without work 2 months later. They are still struggling in a very difficult market.

I would agree with the director of this State agency who says: ``Economic conditions should determine when this safety-net program ends, not an arbitrary date on the calendar. ``

The economic conditions for the long-term unemployed are still perilous, and it is still an emergency. The Speaker's refusal to renew emergency unemployment insurance makes it even harder for struggling Americans to feed their families, and it does nothing to improve our economic outlook.

The Senate-passed bill was fully offset and included, in fact, deficit reduction. So the idea that it was too expensive doesn't hold water.

The fact that House Republicans are now moving $300 billion worth of budget-busting tax breaks, many of which flow to corporations, but refuse to renew emergency benefits for job seekers strikes many people, including myself, as not just an unfair double standard but as out of step with what we need to do to get this economy moving forward.

Let me again remind everyone, we had a fully paid-for unemployment extension bill on a bipartisan basis that actually resulted in some deficit reduction and the House has refused to take it up. But in the meantime, they are moving $300 billion worth of tax cuts and tax breaks over several years, which flow to corporations, and all of it unpaid for.

So for the sake of job seekers in our economy, I hope House Republicans will stop obstructing emergency aid to job seekers. They need to take up the bipartisan Senate agreement to restore these benefits and work with us on strengthening our economic recovery. Just give the bill an up-or-down vote and give millions of American job seekers the chance to get back on their feet. In fact, I am confident if there were an up-or-down vote it would pass the House. It is fiscally responsible, fully paid for, it provides assistance to people and families who desperately need it, and would help the economic climate in every State in this country.

They can attach measures to the bill if they want. That is their prerogative. But let us go ahead and get a bill passed, and if we need to resolve the bill between the House and Senate, let us do so. Refusing a vote is irresponsible. The American people deserve better, and I hope they will see better in the coming days ahead.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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