Extending Unemployment Insurance

Floor Speech

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Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. I want to thank the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee. I am pleased to join with him and others of my colleagues as we come to the floor to call for the immediate passage of legislation in the House to concur with the Senate in the restoration of unemployment benefits to the more than 2.2 million Americans who have been cut off of extended unemployment insurance because our Republican colleagues continue to block an extension of the program.

Mr. Speaker, it is inconceivable to me that, as a government, as a nation, we would leave all of these individuals hanging, many of them since December 28 of last year, in 2013. Nationally, nearly 72,000 people are losing unemployment insurance, on average, every week, adding to the 202 million people who have already lost their benefits. The Department of Labor estimated that the bipartisan Senate agreement to extend emergency unemployment insurance would benefit nearly 2.8 million people. That is a big part of America.

Long-term unemployment wrecks people's lives. It makes it almost impossible for them to ever catch up because they have gotten behind. They have lost what they had. They have been evicted from their homes. Their children have had to leave college. They just have not known which way to turn except to turn to their government, which they believe has their interests at heart and will do the right thing by and for them.

Illinois, my State--the home of Lincoln--is estimated to have lost $296,763,435, just under $300 million, in unemployment benefits during the first 3 months of the year. Any way you count it, that is a lot of money, and it takes that money away from and out of the economy. Those of us who understand a certain kind of economics know that, if you are not able to exchange goods and services, if people are not able to go to the store and get a bottle of milk or to stop at the service station and buy gasoline, there is no point in talking about economic recovery. So, not only is it in the best interests of those individuals who are in need of unemployment benefits, but it is also in the best interest of our Nation as a whole.

Mr. Levin, I want to commend you for the leadership that you have provided on this issue. I want to thank you for the tremendous leadership and for your understanding of the issues facing America.

I hope that, next week, when we return, that our colleagues will realize that we, too, can make a difference, that we can join with the Senate and pass unemployment insurance benefits for more than 2.8 million Americans.

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