[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 154 (Wednesday, October 29, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H9986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       NO MONEY FOR EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR AMERICANS

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, the whining from the other side of the 
aisle is extraordinary. They can see all this waste, fraud, and abuse; 
but they control the White House, the Senate, and the House and yet 
they do not do anything about it. Puzzling.
  Here is something else they do nothing about which is very puzzling. 
There are 4 million American workers who have exhausted their 
unemployment benefits and cannot find work. The President and the 
Republican majority say that we cannot afford to extend unemployment 
benefits to these people, despite the fact there is $20 billion sitting 
in the Unemployment Trust Fund of taxes paid by Americans.
  No waste, fraud, and abuse here; there are just people who cannot 
find work and want it. Now, the Republicans say we cannot afford it, 
but they are borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars to pay Iraqis 
for no-show jobs. The anti-waste, -fraud, and -abuse crowd is happy to 
pay Iraqis for no-show jobs, but they will not give unemployed 
Americans benefits out of a trust fund. These are people who want to 
work and cannot find work because of the miserable economic record of 
this administration.

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