Burton Statement On The Extension Of Unemployment Benefits

Statement

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement after voting against H.R. 5618, the Democrat's unpaid for extension of unemployment insurance benefits:

"I support helping the millions of long-term unemployed people, especially the affected Hoosiers in the 5th district. However, the American people know it is not right to simply add the cost of extending unemployment insurance to our overdrawn national credit card. Someone has to pay when the government spends money.

"Because of our dangerous level of national debt, I cosponsored a plan that would have used unspent 'stimulus' funds to pay for the extension of unemployment insurance, COBRA, and the current poverty guidelines until September 25, 2010. In short, we hoped to extend the benefits without increasing our debt. Inexplicably, Speaker Pelosi barred the House from voting on this bipartisan, commonsense approach.

"Instead, the Democrat leadership forced through H.R. 5618, the unpaid for unemployment insurance extension that excluded COBRA, and did so under a process that would not allow Members to amend the legislation. Speaker Pelosi did not need to divide the House and add $33 billion to the national debt today, but she chose this path in order to paint conservatives as unsympathetic to the unemployed. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"I voted against this bill, not because I oppose helping the unemployed, but because of what I'm hearing from my constituents, the people I represent, who are opposed to adding another $33 billion to our $13 trillion mountain of national debt.

"Look around the world. Countries are drowning in debt. According to a long-term budget outlook released today by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the federal debt will represent 62% of our nation's economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II. At the end of 2008, the debt equaled about 40 % of the nation's annual economic output, according to the CBO.

"As we saw at the recently concluded G20 Summit in Canada, the Democrat leaders of our government seem among the last in the world to recognize that reckless spending and debt endanger every job in America."

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