[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 14, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2257-S2258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     UNEMPLOYMENT AND JOB CREATION

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last Sunday at midnight thousands of 
people in my home State of Washington, who have lost their jobs through 
no fault of their own, had the rug pulled out from underneath them. 
That is because these men and women, who wake up each day to scan the 
classified ads and send out resumes and travel to interview after 
interview, had the unemployment benefits they count on suddenly cut 
off. In losing that critical support, they lost an important source of 
security they need to help them stay in their homes or make rent and 
the stability that allows them to continue to afford to look for work.
  Over the last 2 weeks, I have traveled throughout my State, talking 
to my constituents and discussing our economy and working to support 
job-creation efforts, and I have to say the frustration is very clear. 
It is written on the faces of so many in my State who just cannot seem 
to get a break, who have come close to being hired but have been told 
the time is just not right, they should come back next month or next 
year. These are people who are struggling job seekers, and they do not 
hold back when describing what they continue to face. It is an 
emergency. It is an emergency that affects their ability to pay their 
bills, their ability to put food on the table, and their ability to 
keep their job search going. It is an emergency that time and again we 
have worked hard here to respond to, but time and again we have faced 
opposition to do that.
  Before we left for the recess, we had an opportunity to pass an 
extension of the unemployment benefits, to respond to that emergency in 
our job market, and to avoid the uncertainty job seekers across the 
country now face. Democrats put an unemployment extension out on the 
table. It was a proposal that was similar to extensions we have done 
routinely in difficult times, and, as we all know, times have seldom 
been more difficult. But it has become an all too familiar story now: 
Those on the other side of the aisle said no and put obstruction before 
assistance, politics before people, and point-scoring before the needs 
of those who have lost their jobs.
  This week, we have a chance to make things right. The legislation we 
are trying so hard now to pass this week is very straightforward. This 
bill will get unemployment insurance to millions of struggling families 
who rely on it to meet their basic needs, to pay their mortgage, and 
afford school. It will restore the safety net that is critical to 
keeping our economy stable. It will give those people who are looking 
for jobs the means to afford to keep looking for them. And it will keep 
our economic turnaround on course. It is aimed at helping real families 
with the real problems they face every day.
  But make no mistake, the consequences of not reaching a compromise 
and passing this bill are just as real. Today, families in every single 
one of our States are sitting around their kitchen table trying to 
figure out how they are going to make it through the weeks and months 
ahead without these payments. Oftentimes, they have spent their day 
calling employers and going to job fairs with long lines and very few 
opportunities, filling out more job applications. These families are 
now looking to us for the help they need in a time of crisis. But every 
evening these families are turning on the nightly news to hear another 
story about gridlock in our Nation's Capital. They see this Senate 
being forced to jump through procedural hoops and endure endless delay 
tactics to get even emergency legislation passed. They see politics 
clouding policy, obstruction impeding process, and, do you know what, 
they are really getting sick of it.
  So today I urge all of us to come together and move forward with the 
same urgency those who have lost their unemployment have, that we join 
together the way we did to pass the Children's Health Insurance Program 
or fair pay for women in the workplace or small business tax cuts. We 
need to restore the faith of the American people and pass this critical 
extension.
  But for those who are fighting to get back to work and support their 
families once again, unemployment obviously is not enough. We need to 
be taking every step we can to improve the job market unemployed 
workers wake up to face every morning because while there certainly 
have been signs of improvement, we have a lot of work left to do. I 
certainly believe that work starts with helping our small businesses, 
which are the heart and soul of our economy.
  Growing up, my dad ran a five-and-ten-cent store on Main Street--
actually Main Street--in Bothell, WA. All six of my brothers and 
sisters and I worked there. From an early age, we swept floors, we 
stocked the shelves, we worked the register. And when small businesses 
like ours struggled, we all knew the consequences. We saw it in the 
till at the end of the day. We saw it in the families who were coming 
to buy things from my dad. Small businesses really were the economic 
engine of Main Street then, and, do you know what, they still are 
today.
  But what I hear time and again today is that while Wall Street is 
doing a whole lot better, Main Street is still really struggling and 
that the small community banks, which are a major source of capital in 
all of our communities, are not lending. When small banks, which are 
the lifelines of our small businesses, do not lend, then credit is not 
flowing, businesses are not hiring, and recovery is not coming to Main 
Street. That is exactly why I have introduced legislation that would 
redirect TARP dollars to buy toxic assets such as bad mortgages off the 
books of our community banks at home to help free up their credit and 
get them lending to our small businesses again. We have done enough for 
Wall Street. It is past time we concentrate on helping our small 
businesses and local employers.
  Another way to help improve local job markets and all those who are 
looking for work is to, of course, lessen the tax burden on our small 
businesses so they can afford to hire new workers. Over the recess, I 
had the opportunity to talk to owners of local bakeries and motels and 
marketing companies and a lot more throughout my entire State, and, do 
you know what, they all told me the same thing. They want to hire and 
they want to expand. They even see new opportunities. But the risks for 
them now are just too great. What they need from us is certainty and 
security. I told them we are working to provide them with just that. I 
told them the health care reform bill we just passed includes a 35-
percent tax credit that small business owners can receive immediately 
to help them cover their workers. I encouraged them to hire unemployed 
workers who have been out of work for more than 60 days because we now 
are giving them an exemption from their payroll taxes for those new 
employees. I told them now is the time to make big purchases they want 
because we have worked to pass legislation that will allow them to 
write those purchases off immediately. I told them we have worked to 
ensure that the Small Business Administration is increasing its local 
lending efforts. But

[[Page S2258]]

I also told them, of course, that we have more to accomplish and they, 
the small businesses, need to be the focus of recovery efforts from 
this point on.
  Another central tenet of improving the job market is included in the 
historic health care reform legislation we passed into law last month. 
As we all know, that bill greatly expands access to care in communities 
across the Nation, but what has gone less noticed is that the bill also 
greatly expands access to health care careers to help meet that new 
demand.
  I was the Senator in the HELP Committee who was responsible for the 
health care workforce section of the bill we passed, and I worked to 
make sure we made numerous investments to create and sustain good-
paying health care jobs. Our bill that is now signed into law 
includes incentives such as loan repayment programs, scholarships, and 
grants, all to help encourage students to go into high-need fields and 
to work in underserved areas. It invests in education, training, and 
retention efforts, not just for new health care workers but for those 
who are already working to provide quality care in our country. 
Investments in our health care workforce create jobs. They ease the 
strain on overworked health care professionals. And it is going to keep 
Americans healthy so they can be productive on the job.

  Finally, I believe we need to pay particular attention to our efforts 
to hire our Nation's heroes, and they, of course, are our veterans. 
Right now, the unemployment rate for veterans who are returning from 
Iraq and Afghanistan is over 21 percent. More than one in five of the 
men and women who went and fought for our country are returning home 
only to have to fight to find work. These are disciplined, technically 
skilled, determined workers who nonetheless have been left to stand at 
the back of the line or have their resumes lost in a stack somewhere.
  Over the last 2 weeks, I talked to many unemployed veterans in my 
home State of Washington about just what it is that is keeping them 
from finding work, and, frankly, what they told me was shocking. Many 
veterans told me they sometimes leave off the fact they are veterans 
from their resume because employers are looking at it as a negative 
rather than a positive because of the stigma of the invisible wounds of 
war. National Guard members talked of coming home to find they have 
been laid off because their job no longer existed at the company they 
left behind when they went to serve our country. Other veterans told me 
the Pentagon and VA transition programs just are not working for today. 
And they struggle to have employers understand how the technical skills 
they learned in the military will translate to help them in the 
civilian working world.
  What I heard is unacceptable, and it has to change immediately. So 
next week I am going to be introducing a bill on the Senate floor that 
will take a look at why our military skills are not translating into 
skills that get them jobs when they come home. It will help our 
veterans get into apprenticeship programs and careers where I know they 
will excel. It will improve the military and civilian transition 
process. And we are going to set up a veterans business center within 
the Small Business Administration to help our veterans get the skills 
and resources to start their own businesses.
  This week on the Senate floor, we have a chance to keep our 
unemployed workers afloat. It is an unemployment extension that is a 
lifeline. It is a lifeline that will help allow unemployed workers to 
continue looking for every job opportunity and to support their 
families in that process. But ultimately we need to get these workers 
into the boat. We need them to get good, stable jobs. That means 
supporting our community banks, reducing the tax burden on small 
businesses, and expanding opportunities for health care workers and our 
returning heroes--our veterans.
  As I said earlier, the American people are watching us. They want us 
to have the same urgency they feel in their lives every day. They want 
to know their dinner table debates are our floor debates. They want to 
know that creating jobs is our No. 1 priority and that we will be at 
the back of those who are trying so hard to get back to work.
  So I come to the floor to urge everyone to come together to pass this 
important extension of unemployment benefits, put politics aside for a 
couple weeks and months, and help us all work together to create job 
opportunities and get Americans back to work.
  Thank you. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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