Unemployment Benefits

Floor Speech

Ms. KUSTER. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in strong support for renewing the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program.

Because Congress failed to act, this vital program expired on December 28
of last year. Just 3 days after Christmas, 1.3 million Americans, including over 1,000 Granite Staters, were cut off from their benefits. Each week of congressional inaction, as many as 150 additional Granite Staters will lose access to benefits.

This compensation provides a critical lifeline to Granite Staters and other Americans who are struggling to find work.

This includes my constituent Lois Little, a teacher who wrote to me from Colebrook, New Hampshire. At the end of the last school year, Lois lost her job after teaching for 29 years because of falling enrollment in her rural school district. Over the last few months, she has applied to over 100 jobs, without any luck.

Her savings have been exhausted, unemployment benefits are now her only source of income, and she is worried about whether she can keep her home.

Let's come together and give Lois a chance. Let's renew Emergency Unemployment Compensation today.

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