Unemployment Benefit Extension

Floor Speech

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, unemployment benefits and Social Security benefits are a safety net. They are not a lottery handout; and as we struggle to try to get the Senate to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, with 15 million out-of-work Americans who are depending on us to pay their bills, it's important to remember that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that passage of unemployment benefit extensions is one of the most cost-effective and fast-acting ways to stimulate the economy.

But lost in all of this debate and all of this delay is the human side. So I want to share the story fresh from the headline of today's Dubuque Telegraph Herald with the headline: ``Desperation sets in for jobless parents.'' A family with a 32-year-old dad and 30-year-old mom could provide for their children a year ago, but times have changed because Mom suffered an injury at work and hasn't been able to work since March. Dad lost his job a couple of months later, and their unemployment benefits expired in July. The family includes girls, 14 and 10, and boys, 11 and 7.

These are the Americans who need us to act now.

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