[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 126 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9660-S9662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION
Mrs. CARNAHAN. Mr. President, the state of our economy is causing
great concern. The experts may tell us the recession is officially
over, but that is cold comfort to many Americans.
Last week, we got some startling new numbers on the pain being felt
by working families. The income of middle-class families fell for the
first time since the last recession. And for the first time in 12
years, our national poverty rate grew. Today, almost 33 million
Americans live below the poverty line.
The stock market is also reflecting the uncertainty Americans feel.
Yesterday, the market finished its worst quarter since 1987. The Dow
Jones lost nearly 1,200 points in the last month, and the Nasdaq just
hit a 6-year low.
These losses are more than numbers. They are a crushing reality for
far too many Americans who are working hard to save for their
retirement.
The recent declines are especially painful to our seniors who are
living off their savings or planned to in the next couple of years.
Congress has taken some important steps to address our economic woes.
In July, we worked together to pass accounting reform legislation to
begin restoring investor confidence. The American people are now
receiving accurate information about a company's financial condition.
Congress also worked across party lines last spring to enact a
stimulus package. That legislation provides tax incentives for
businesses to help them grow, invest, and avoid laying off employees.
That law also extended unemployment insurance for workers who were
hit the hardest by the economic slowdown. At that time, we made sure
workers who had lost their jobs and exhausted their State employment
compensation received an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance
while they were looking for jobs.
It is urgent that Congress act again. Our economic recovery is
disappointingly slow.
Last quarter, our economy grew at a meager 1.3 percent. Such an
anemic growth rate means businesses are struggling to stay afloat and
workers are struggling to pay their bills.
Some have called this a jobless recovery. But there is no recovery
for the jobless. Over the last year, my home State of Missouri has lost
more than 55,000 jobs in manufacturing and farming.
More than 8 million Americans are unemployed today. An alarming
number of unemployed workers have been looking for jobs for more than 6
months. By the end of the year, more than 2 million workers are
expected to exhaust their unemployment compensation.
Unemployment benefits are supposed to help tide workers over during
hard times. It is intended to help them support their families, to help
them pay the rent, and put food on the table.
Right now our economy is not creating enough jobs for these people to
get back to work. It will take more time for them to find a job.
It is appropriate that we respond to this emergency as we have done
in the past. In the early 1990s, Congress provided 26 weeks of
additional unemployment insurance.
I am very pleased to be a cosponsor of legislation introduced last
week that will provide the same temporary relief. Our bill will ensure
that if a worker cannot find a new job, and if that worker has
completely exhausted the unemployment insurance currently available,
then that worker could receive another 13 weeks of assistance.
Workers and their families deserve this safety net. Congress cannot
turn a blind eye to the hardships of jobless men and women, those who
are hurting in this economy: the hurting, the helpless, and the
hopeless.
I urge my colleagues to act quickly. The time is running out for too
many Americans.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to
consider a bipartisan effort to pass legislation on which Senators
Kennedy, Clinton, and Wellstone have worked so hard. Their leadership
has shown it is critical that we pass this legislation now.
No other State, probably, needs this legislation more than
Washington.
Washington State is in the middle of an economic crisis resulting
from a downturn in both our aviation and high-tech sectors. With the
jobless rate at 7.2 percent, we are teetering among the highest, if not
the highest, unemployment rates in the country.
Mr. President, 202,000 Washingtonians are unable to find work. And
over the last 12 months, our State has lost 50,000 jobs, and 60 percent
of those are in the high-paying manufacturing sector.
Just in the last 2 weeks, Boeing announced it would exceed its
original projections of 30,000 layoffs that it has already carried out.
Last month alone, 56,000 unemployed workers of Washington State
received extended unemployment benefits. But all those benefits will
expire on December 31, 2002, unless we take the proposal before us
today and pass it into legislation. That means if we don't pass this
legislation, those 56,000 workers will not be adding to our State's
troubled economy.
We can no longer wait because things are not getting better. Our
State economist Chang Mook Sohn issued a report saying we are not going
to see a recovery anytime soon and very little growth in the next 6
months.
We understand that unemployment checks are not long-term answers;
jobs are. But while people look for new work, extending unemployment
benefits will help unemployed workers make mortgage payments, put food
on the table, pay utility bills, health care bills, and, in my State,
the high cost of energy bills.
Extending unemployment benefits will give people a new opportunity to
upgrade their skills. As has been pointed out, extending benefits will
also boost our economy, injecting into communities that have already
been strapped with high unemployment rates a little bit of stimulus. A
1999 Department of Labor study concluded that for every dollar spent on
unemployment, it generates $2.15 of economic activity. This proposal
for Washington State over the next 6 months would mean over $1 billion
in economic stimulus.
The cost of extending this program will be paid by the unemployment
insurance trust fund, which has nearly $30 billion in it and is a very
healthy account.
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Congress created unemployment insurance in 1935 to help unemployed
workers get through the Great Depression. In the 1990s, we expanded
that five times and even higher for the States that had high
unemployment. So far this year, Congress has only done this once.
We, in Washington State, need the support of our colleagues and of
the White House in dealing with this economic crisis. It is clearly
imperative that we should pass the Kennedy-Clinton-Wellstone
legislation and do so immediately so that as our economy continues to
struggle, we bridge the gap with a stimulus and a helping hand to
working men and women in America.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I bring to the attention of the Senate a
major challenge facing many of the families in my State of
Massachusetts, and that is the continued escalation of those on the
unemployment list. We have seen that grow to a figure of 175,000.
In Massachusetts, we have the highest number of unemployed workers of
any of the New England States. Two years ago we had the lowest
unemployment of any of the States. Now we have the highest, with very
little hope in the future for getting these workers back to work.
There has been a reduction in the total number of jobs. We have more
workers searching for fewer jobs than at any time in recent history.
These are not just figures developed by the Democratic Party. They are
figures developed by the Department of Labor: 8.1 million unemployed,
trying to fill 3.2 million positions. The disparity between the high
number of unemployed and the available jobs is one of the highest
percentages of any recent time, and that is true all over this country.
The people of my State are wondering how they are going to make ends
meet, whether they are going to see the expiration of their
unemployment compensation.
I was here in the early 1990s, when on four to five different
occasions we had bipartisan support for extension of unemployment
compensation.
The purpose of unemployment compensation is to reach out a helping
hand to workers who work hard, play by the rules, are trying to pay a
mortgage, trying to pay for children's school clothes, and to live a
somewhat normal life, but because of the economic exigencies they are
out of a job.
The unemployment fund is now at a surplus of some $25 billion. It was
developed for just the kinds of reasons we are facing today. We, on
this side, believe we ought to have an opportunity to extend
unemployment compensation to the families of this country thrown out of
work through no fault of their own. They ought to be able to at least
have this lifeline that will help support them during this difficult
time before they are able to get back on their feet.
That is the issue. It is one of decency, fairness, and humanity. At
other times in our history, Republicans and Democrats in this body came
together in order to provide that.
Now we are finding the Republican leadership opposing this proposal,
effectively saying thumbs down to workers in my State, thumb downs to
workers all across New England and all across the country. It is the
wrong policy at the wrong time.
I join with my colleagues, with Senator Wellstone, who has been the
leader in this battle for extended unemployment compensation, and my
friend and colleague, Senator Clinton, Senator Carnahan, Senator
Cantwell and others, urging the Senate to take action. We can do it. It
has been done in a bipartisan way. It should not be partisan. This is
about hard-working Americans. Are we going to reach out with a helping
hand to make sure their interests are going to be protected?
We ask the Senate for consent to provide additional unemployment
benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans. I urge my colleagues to
give that consent.
Over 2 million Americans who have lost their jobs are about to also
lose their unemployment benefits. The Emergency Unemployment
Compensation Act of 2002 will extend their benefits just as we have
every recession over the past three decades. Families are struggling,
and we must act.
In fact, since President Bush assumed office in January 2001, the
economic well-being of America's families has dramatically
deteriorated. This is not just an economic coincidence, it is the
result of the economic policies of this administration--policies which
neglect the basic needs of working men and women, lavish extravagant
tax breaks on the wealthiest taxpayers, and allow corporate abuse and
excess to go unchecked.
President Bush says he has already taken care of the troubled economy
by cutting taxes and, instead of supporting our bill, called on
Congress to make the tax cuts permanent.
There are now 8.1 million unemployed Americans, 2.2 million more than
when President Bush took office. And no amount of tax cuts for the
wealthy can restore their jobs and pay their bills.
But this is deja vu all over again. The first President Bush twice
blocked legislation to provide much-needed unemployment benefits before
finally signing into law three benefit extensions. In this recession,
800,000 more workers are expected to run out of unemployment benefits
than in the last recession during the early 1990s. It will only get
worse if we don't act.
Last March, Congress extended benefits for the first and only time
during this recession. That is not enough. Already, more than 1 million
workers have exhausted these benefits without finding a new job, and
another 2 million will join their ranks by the end of the year.
Most of them have families to support. They are scrimping on school
supplies; maxing out credit cards; and juggling electric bills with
mortgage payments. These are our fellow citizens, and they need help
now.
We are supporting legislation that mirrors the benefits signed into
law by the first President Bush in the early 1990s. The bill will
extend benefits for workers in all States, and provide additional
benefits for those in high-unemployment States. This bill will ensure
that workers can keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables
while they search for jobs in this tight economy.
This Bush administration has fought efforts to provide adequate
unemployment assistance to workers. But the administration can no
longer afford to ignore the pain and the needs of struggling families.
We must act--and act now--to live up to our obligations to help our
fellow citizens in their time of need.
Alan Gonsenhauser of Northborough, MA, is one of those workers who
has exhausted his benefits. Formerly the vice president of a consulting
firm whose largest client was Enron, he was laid off last December.
Nine months later, he is still looking for a job. He, his wife, and
their two children have relied on unemployment benefits and personal
savings to cover family expenses, but his benefits expired last month.
Many hard-working Americans and their families have suffered as a
result of the recent spate of corporate scandals and the failure of the
administration to take decisive action. At WorldCom, more than 20,000
workers were laid off. At Arthur Andersen, 7,000 workers were laid off.
At Global Crossing, over 9,000 workers were laid off. Enron laid off
about 4,000 workers.
Americans who are out of work are watching their savings shrink while
the cost of living just grows and grows. The cost of health insurance
for families has risen 16 percent in the last year and a half, and 27
percent for single individuals. Even more workers are being forced to
go without health insurance. The cost of prescription drugs is going up
at three times the rate of inflation. Yet this administration
repeatedly sides with the health care industry and against working
families.
Families are struggling to pay for college for their children.
Tuition alone at a public 4-year college costs nearly 8 percent more
this year than last year--an increase of more than triple the rate of
inflation. The importance of higher education is increasing but the
ability of middle-class families to pay for it is decreasing.
Out-of-work Americans are not only losing their health benefits, they
are also losing their homes. According to new data from the Mortgage
Bankers Association of America, home foreclosures are at all-time
highs. Families who spent years saving to purchase their dream homes
are now unable to afford to keep them.
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These are the economic fears which are keeping American workers up at
night--losing their job, losing their homes, losing their retirement
savings, losing their health care, and paying for college.
Millions more of them are kept awake by these fears today than were
18 months ago. The Bush economy has turned the American dream into a
nightmare for them.
It's time to restore economic security for workers and the Nation.
Democrats support extending unemployment benefits, guaranteeing
retirement security through pension reform, raising the minimum wage,
insuring health care for the uninsured, and making prescription drugs
and college more affordable for millions of Americans. America's
working families deserve nothing less.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I compliment the distinguished Senator
from Massachusetts for his powerful statement and my colleagues, the
Senators from New York, Missouri, and Washington State, and others, in
support of the Wellstone unanimous consent request. I know he will
propound it momentarily. We are waiting for the assistant Republican
leader to come to the Chamber.
In the meantime, I add my voice to those who have spoken this
morning. The economic conditions in this country continue to worsen. We
now have 2 million jobs that have been lost over the last 20 months.
The number of the private sector unemployed has gone up by over 2
million people. We have seen the number of long-term unemployed go from
about 650,000 now to 1.5 million people--those who are unemployed for
more than 6 months. We have seen a $4.5 trillion loss in market
capitalization. We have seen the number of foreclosures go up at a rate
higher than anything in recent years.
Over and over, every single indicator points to the fact that this
economy continues to worsen. Yet we have an administration that, for
whatever reason, chooses to ignore it entirely.
The point we make this morning and have made now for some time is
that at the very least we ought to be sensitive to those who are the
victims of this tragic set of economic circumstances.
Felix Batista is one of those people. I heard about Mr. Batista when
I was in New York in the last couple of days. Felix Batista worked for
the World Trade Center for 23 years. After the tragedy of 9/11, Mr.
Batista was left unemployed. He has yet to find a job more than a year
later, in spite of the fact that he was an outstanding employee, that
he has family, that he has run out of his unemployment benefits. He has
no recourse but to continue to plead for help, ask for our
understanding. I don't know whether Mr. Batista is watching this
morning, but I am sure if there are those who are unemployed with
access to C-SPAN, they have to be wondering, hoping, wishing the Senate
would act expeditiously.
They didn't have to hope or wait 10 years ago. We went through a
recession at that time and we extended unemployment benefits--not once,
not twice, but on three occasions. We provided the safety net to those
who were unemployed in the long term. We provided some hope, some
opportunity to have a sense of worth. That is all we are asking, Mr.
President. Give these people a chance. Give them the hope and the real
opportunity they need to be able to pay their bills, buy groceries, to
ensure that their rent payments are made so they are not evicted in
addition to being unemployed. So I hope that, at the very least, we can
extend unemployment benefits again. We have done it before. The need
could not be more urgent.
While we can talk about all the other things we need to do about the
economy, there should not be any difference in opinion whatsoever,
Republican or Democrat, when it comes to economic security for these
unemployed workers, these families left with nothing--the Felix
Batistas of the world, who are good employees, who work hard, who
expect at least some understanding for their circumstances now.
I yield to the Senator from Minnesota to make his unanimous consent
request.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I know the Senator wants to speak on
this matter as well. I can do this in a very brief timespan, though I
think this is a critically important issue. I thank, as always, my
colleague Senator Kennedy for his leadership, along with Senator
Clinton.
My State of Minnesota has lost 40,000 jobs in the last 18 months. I
have not seen anything like this for a long time. We have 123,000
Minnesotans who are officially unemployed, and that doesn't include
people who are self-employed, people who work part time, and those
people who have become discouraged workers. Right now, unemployed
workers in Minnesota are looking for jobs, and they outnumber unfilled
jobs by 2 to 1. This is a serious situation.
Look at the reports today about the stock market and the economy. The
good thing we did in the 1990s, in a bipartisan way, is that when we
were in the earlier years, before President Clinton, in recession, we
extended the unemployment benefits another 13 weeks. That is exactly
what we are talking about here--the Emergency Unemployment Compensation
Act. It is a bipartisan measure. It is critically important. Basically
what we are saying is that we ought to at least, with this Economic
Security Act, provide an additional 13 weeks of extended benefits for
workers who are either running out of benefits and won't even get the
13 weeks they are due in December or those who have already run out of
all of their benefits. For those States with high levels of
unemployment, we are talking about another 20 weeks of unemployment
benefits.
Colleagues, this is compassion. This is bipartisan. The economy is
not doing well, and the families we represent in our States are not
doing well.
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