[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 25 (Friday, March 8, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1701-S1702]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ECONOMIC STIMULUS IN THE NORTHWEST

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague from the 
State of Washington to impress on this body just how important elements 
of this legislation are to the workers in the Pacific Northwest and the 
Nation.
  As my colleagues know, Washington and Oregon have the highest 
unemployment rates in the Nation right now.
  The economy of the Northwest has been struggling for some time and 
September 11 only made things worse.
  Last year, Boeing, Washington's largest employer, announced they 
would be cutting 30,000 jobs within a year. Most of those jobs would be 
out of Washington State. To date, 10,000 dedicated Boeing workers have 
been handed their pink slips. That number doesn't include the thousands 
of jobs that are being lost by those dependent on Boeing.
  Washington State is also a high-tech dependent State. The downturn in 
that sector has left many in the Northwest without a job.
  These massive lay-offs, uncertainty in the economy, and fear of 
another terrorist attack have crippled the economies of the Northwest.
  We are expecting that the layoffs may reach 40 to 65,000 by the end 
of this year.
  So the importance of the legislation is paramount--but the devil's in 
the details--and so we have worked to make sure that the language 
passed by the House will provide the maximum stimulus possible to 
workers throughout this Nation.
  My colleague, Senator Cantwell, has been diligent in monitoring this 
legislation and we have worked in tandem to ensure that States in such 
great need do not have their support decreased because those States 
have proactively made efforts to provide extended benefits to workers 
in advance of the passage of this legislation.
  I understand that the majority leader has agreed to engage in a 
colloquy on this matter with myself and Senator Cantwell so that we may 
clarify that the legislation will, in fact, have it's intended 
stimulative impact on our State.
  At this time, I yield back to the majority leader and look forward to 
his response.
  Ms. CANTWELL. If the majority leader yield for a question, I thank 
the majority leader and my colleague Senator Murray.
  I am pleased to join her in support of this legislation.
  My colleague shares my concern over the serious situation in our 
State and throughout the Northwest. In Washington State alone 42,070 
workers exhausted UI claims from September 11 through the beginning of 
March; and 14 of Washington's 39 counties have unemployment rates above 
ten percent.
  If this is not an emergency, I do not know what is.
  That's why we have insisted for months now that the Senate pass a 
simple unemployment insurance extension of at least 13 weeks.
  But, we do want to make explicitly clear how the bill will conform 
with state laws providing extended benefits, so that we preserve the 
intended purpose of this legislation.
  I cannot emphasize enough how pleased this Senator is to have this 
legislation is finally approaching enactment. I am extremely pleased 
that the House has finally come to the conclusion that need this 13-
week Federal support, and has finally decided to do the right thing for 
our workers, and our nation as a whole.
  But we have meticulously worked to ensure that the language of this 
legislation would conform with the extended benefits offered by our 
State, so that one of the most heavily impacted States in the nation is 
able to fully benefit from what we're doing today.
  The distinguished majority leader worked very hard with us last year 
and earlier this year to craft language that would achieve this 
purpose. The language passed by this body in February made very clear 
that the temporary federal benefits would begin immediately after the 
26th week, across the board. The UI provision is crafted in a less 
clear manner in the House bill, but I am aware that the House Ways and 
Means chairman yesterday expressed his intent in drafting that language 
that the federal benefit would begin before wholly State-financed 
benefits.
  We understand that the Department of Labor has promised to provide a 
letter of interpretation of the House-passed legislation that is 
expected to clarify these issues, and specifically, the technical order 
of benefits that workers will be expected to receive. This Senator 
urges the Secretary to get this assurance to us immediately, so that 
States can adequately plan to meet the needs of workers who have 
exhausted or will soon exhaust their benefits.
  While I am disappointed that the House language is not explicitly 
clear on this matter, as was the Senate bill, I am pleased to hear that 
the Department understands this intent and will interpret the language 
accordingly.
  We will closely be watching to ensure that the Secretary follows 
through on this commitment and puts the Department's priority where it 
should be--on providing as much assistance as possible to the areas of 
this Nation that desperately need it--and to providing it in a time 
frame that truly reflects the urgency of the situation.

  Again, I appreciate the phenomenal work of the majority leader and 
the entire Senate in doing its work on this bill months ago; and now 
that the House has finally come to the table, I urge that we move 
quickly to get it enacted and get extended benefits out to workers who 
need it most.
  At this time I ask the distinguished majority leader if it is his 
understanding that the intent of this legislation was to provide a 
Federal benefit immediately after regular state UI benefits, and I will 
yield back for his response.
  Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is exactly right, that is the intent of the 
legislation.
  As I understand it, the House chairman did clarify yesterday that his 
intent in drafting the legislation conformed to the Senator's view that 
the

[[Page S1702]]

federal benefit start before any state-financed extended benefit.
  As the Senators from Washington know, the Senate put forward a bill 
in February that provided a simple 13-week extension to all States, 
which would begin immediately after the exhaustion of regular UI 
benefits.
  There are a number of States that did act in providing State-financed 
extended benefits before the House finally agreed to send us this 
compromise legislation, and those States deserve the maximum federal 
benefit.
  This is about giving workers a chance to get back on their feet.
  We have worked hard to recognize the technical concerns of the 
Senators from Washington and ensure that we were providing the maximum 
assistance to all States.
  So I will say clearly that it was the Congress' intent to provide the 
federal benefit immediately after regular UI and I will work with the 
Senators to ensure that the Department conforms with that intent.

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