[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 99 (Tuesday, June 29, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H4921-H4925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1240
     RESTORATION OF EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION ACT OF 2010

  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5618) to continue Federal unemployment programs.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5618

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Restoration of Emergency 
     Unemployment Compensation Act of 2010''.

     SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROVISIONS.

       (a) In General.--(1) Section 4007 of the Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 
     note) is amended--
       (A) by striking ``June 2, 2010'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``November 30, 2010'';
       (B) in the heading for subsection (b)(2), by striking 
     ``june 2, 2010'' and inserting ``november 30, 2010''; and
       (C) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ``November 6, 2010'' 
     and inserting ``April 30, 2011''.
       (2) Section 2005 of the Assistance for Unemployed Workers 
     and Struggling Families Act, as contained in Public Law 111-5 
     (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 444), is amended--
       (A) by striking ``June 2, 2010'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``December 1, 2010''; and
       (B) in subsection (c), by striking ``November 6, 2010'' and 
     inserting ``May 1, 2011''.
       (3) Section 5 of the Unemployment Compensation Extension 
     Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-449; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is 
     amended by striking ``November 6, 2010'' and inserting 
     ``April 30, 2011''.
       (b) Funding.--Section 4004(e)(1) of the Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 
     note) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end; 
     and
       (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
       ``(F) the amendments made by section 2(a)(1) of the 
     Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 
     2010; and''.
       (c) Conditions for Receiving Emergency Unemployment 
     Compensation.--Section 4001(d)(2) of the Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 
     note) is amended, in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 
     by inserting before ``shall apply'' the following: 
     ``(including terms and conditions relating to availability 
     for work, active search for work, and refusal to accept 
     work)''.
       (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect as if included in the enactment of the 
     Continuing Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-157).

     SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION 
                   WITH REGULAR COMPENSATION.

       (a) Certain Individuals Not Ineligible by Reason of New 
     Entitlement to Regular Benefits.--Section 4002 of the 
     Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 
     U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(g) Coordination of Emergency Unemployment Compensation 
     With Regular Compensation.--
       ``(1) If--
       ``(A) an individual has been determined to be entitled to 
     emergency unemployment compensation with respect to a benefit 
     year,
       ``(B) that benefit year has expired,
       ``(C) that individual has remaining entitlement to 
     emergency unemployment compensation with respect to that 
     benefit year, and
       ``(D) that individual would qualify for a new benefit year 
     in which the weekly benefit amount of regular compensation is 
     at least either $100 or 25 percent less than the individual's 
     weekly benefit amount in the benefit year referred to in 
     subparagraph (A),

     then the State shall determine eligibility for compensation 
     as provided in paragraph (2).
       ``(2) For individuals described in paragraph (1), the State 
     shall determine whether the individual is to be paid 
     emergency unemployment compensation or regular compensation 
     for a week of unemployment using one of the following 
     methods:
       ``(A) The State shall, if permitted by State law, establish 
     a new benefit year, but defer the payment of regular 
     compensation with respect to that new benefit year until 
     exhaustion of all emergency unemployment compensation payable 
     with respect to the benefit year referred to in paragraph 
     (1)(A);
       ``(B) The State shall, if permitted by State law, defer the 
     establishment of a new benefit year (which uses all the wages 
     and employment which would have been used to establish a 
     benefit year but for the application of this paragraph), 
     until exhaustion of all emergency unemployment compensation 
     payable with respect to the benefit year referred to in 
     paragraph (1)(A);
       ``(C) The State shall pay, if permitted by State law--
       ``(i) regular compensation equal to the weekly benefit 
     amount established under the new benefit year, and
       ``(ii) emergency unemployment compensation equal to the 
     difference between that weekly benefit amount and the weekly 
     benefit amount for the expired benefit year; or
       ``(D) The State shall determine rights to emergency 
     unemployment compensation without regard to any rights to 
     regular compensation if the individual elects to not file a 
     claim for regular compensation under the new benefit year.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to individuals whose benefit years, as described 
     in section 4002(g)(1)(B) the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 
     2008 (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note), as amended by 
     this section, expire after the date of enactment of this Act.

     SEC. 4. REQUIRING STATES TO NOT REDUCE REGULAR COMPENSATION 
                   IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDS UNDER THE 
                   EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION PROGRAM.

       Section 4001 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 
     (Public Law 110-252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(g) Nonreduction Rule.--An agreement under this section 
     shall not apply (or shall cease to apply) with respect to a 
     State upon a determination by the Secretary that the method 
     governing the computation of regular compensation under the 
     State law of that State has been modified in a manner such 
     that--
       ``(1) the average weekly benefit amount of regular 
     compensation which will be payable during the period of the 
     agreement occurring on or after June 2, 2010 (determined 
     disregarding any additional amounts attributable to the 
     modification described in section 2002(b)(1) of the 
     Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families 
     Act, as contained in Public Law 111-5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 
     123 Stat. 438)), will be less than
       ``(2) the average weekly benefit amount of regular 
     compensation which would otherwise have been payable during 
     such period under the State law, as in effect on June 2, 
     2010.''.

     SEC. 5. BUDGETARY PROVISIONS.

       (a) Statutory PAYGO.--The budgetary effects of this Act, 
     for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go 
     Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest 
     statement titled `Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation' for 
     this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 
     by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that 
     such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on 
     passage.
       (b) Emergency Designations.--Sections 2 and 3--
       (1) are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to 
     section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 
     (Public Law 111-139; 2 U.S.C. 933(g));
       (2) in the House of Representatives, are designated as an 
     emergency for purposes of pay-as-you-go principles; and
       (3) in the Senate, are designated as an emergency 
     requirement pursuant to section 403(a) of S. Con. Res. 13 
     (111th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for 
     fiscal year 2010.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Levin) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the

[[Page H4922]]

chairman of the subcommittee, the distinguished gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott).
  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, if we fail to act, 1.7 million 
Americans will lose their unemployment benefits by the end of this 
week. The House tried to address this issue a month ago as part of a 
much larger jobs package, but Republican opposition killed the bill in 
the other body.
  America's unemployed workers cannot wait any longer for all of us to 
do the right thing. Many of them have lost their benefits after just 26 
weeks. And we're not talking about people who've had 99 weeks of 
unemployment. We're talking people 26 weeks of unemployment in a time 
when we have almost 10 percent unemployed. And that's even as long-term 
unemployment has reached the highest levels since we've been counting. 
And yet, only one, one of more than 200 Republicans in Congress has 
voted to continue the benefits.
  So we're bringing up a stand-alone bill to extend unemployment 
benefits so there can be no excuses. There's no place to hide in this. 
You are looking the unemployed straight in the face.
  If you vote ``no'' you will be cutting off unemployment benefits to 
Americans who have worked hard and played by the rules but now find 
themselves with no job, no savings, and no support.
  If you vote ``no'' you are abandoning unemployed Americans when there 
are five of them desperately searching for every job that's out there.
  If you vote ``no'' you'll be helping increase the number of homes in 
foreclosure. If you don't get an unemployment check, you don't have 
money to pay your mortgage, so your house is going to go in the tank. 
The number of families declaring bankruptcy and the number of children 
going hungry will go up in America, in the richest country in the 
world.
  If you vote ``no'' you're undermining economic recovery by choking 
consumer demand at a critical time.
  And if you vote ``no'' I honestly don't know how you're able to go 
home and march in a Fourth of July parade as millions of Americans are 
left without any way to keep a roof over their head or food on the 
table for their children.
  No excuses this time. No place to hide. We must pass this bill.
  Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Here we go again. Another month, another bill extending unemployment 
benefits and extending the Federal deficit. Only this time, the 
Democrats have waited now almost an entire month since these programs 
last expired to come up with a plan for how to extend them, leaving 
hundreds of thousands of long-term unemployed people without needed 
benefits. And it's all because the Democrats refuse to pay for these 
benefits, despite record Federal deficits.
  Madam Speaker, I'm one of many on this side who support helping long-
term unemployed people. I voted for these benefits. Even though my home 
State of Michigan recently ended its 4-year run, the highest 
unemployment rate in the Nation, the pain suffered by our residents 
remains real.
  But the American people know it isn't right to simply add the cost of 
this spending to our already overdrawn national credit card. They want 
to help those in need. They also know that someone has to pay when the 
government spends money. That assistance must not put our fiscal house, 
as a Nation, in even worse shape. And we're already in terrible shape, 
thanks to the other side.
  The Democrats' trillion-dollar stimulus plan created millions of 
unemployed workers, instead of millions of promised jobs. We can and 
should cut that ineffective stimulus spending to pay for extending UI 
benefits, as my colleague, Mr. Heller of Nevada, has proposed.
  Stimulus hasn't worked. In its wake, nearly 3 million private-sector 
jobs were lost. Unemployment soared to 10 percent nationwide, and 48 
out of 50 states lost jobs. The only thing we stimulated is more 
government jobs.
  Even Democrats now question the wisdom of all that spending, as is 
evidenced by the fact the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee 
proposed last week to cut some of it to pay for expending other expired 
policies.
  But instead of that commonsense approach, our colleagues on the other 
side have brought up this unpaid-for bill, under a process that 
prevents any amendment, including an effort to pay for this spending. 
So I expect, because of those reasons, this bill will be defeated. And 
they know that. They want a campaign issue. Not because Members on both 
sides oppose helping the unemployed, but because Members reflecting 
what they're hearing from their constituents, listening to the people 
they represent, are opposed to adding another $33 billion to our $13 
trillion mountain of national debt. Our national debt is now more than 
90 percent of our total economy.
  Look around the world. Countries are sinking in debt. Yet, the 
Democrat leaders of this House seem among the last to recognize that 
this reckless spending cannot go on forever.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose this deficit-extending bill today so 
that we can bring up a real bill that allows us to pass and actually 
pay for these benefits for the long-term unemployed. That's the only 
road out of this policy dead-end into which the other side's spending 
ways have driven us.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. 
Berkley), a member of our committee.
  Ms. BERKLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for extending me this courtesy.
  I am not at all concerned about finding a campaign issue to run on in 
November. What I'm looking for is relief for the people that I 
represent.
  Nevada's unemployment rate went up last month. We are the highest in 
the country, officially over 14 percent, probably closer to 20 percent, 
which means a fifth of the people living in the State of Nevada have no 
jobs. And the problem is, there's no jobs to have.
  When I hear people say, well, we shouldn't extend unemployment 
benefits because people are going to get accustomed to being on 
unemployment. Not one of the people I represent that's unemployed has 
come to me and told me what a picnic it is living on the brink with 
their unemployment benefits.
  You know what they're saying to me? Find me a job, Congresswoman. I 
want to work.
  Until this economy recovers, until people can go back to work we have 
an obligation and responsibility to keep these families afloat. So 
let's stop talking about nonsense like campaign issues, and let's start 
talking about how we're going to save our fellow citizens from going 
under in such a way that they're never going to be able to bounce back, 
no matter what happens with this economy.
  I strongly support this.
  Mr. CAMP. At this time, I yield 3 minutes to a distinguished member 
of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady).
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I appreciate and applaud the 
leadership of Mr. Camp on job-creating issues in this Congress.
  My friend from Washington is correct; there are no excuses on this 
bill. Democrat leadership has known for months that this would run out 
for those who need unemployment, and they did nothing. Now it's lapsed 
for 30 days, and the question is why.
  The answer is, to Democrats deficits don't matter. They thought they 
could attach this bill to a big spending bill and talk the rest of 
Congress into adding even more to our deficit, and Congress balked. 
Today they think they can add another $33 billion to our deficit and 
Congress will go along with it. But we won't. At a time when Democrats 
believe deficits don't matter, the rest of the American public says it 
does matter.

                              {time}  1250

  People are frightened by the amount of debt this country owes. They 
are frightened by how much more dangerous debt is added every day. In 
fact, every second in America, under the Obama-Democrat budget, every 
second more is added to the national debt than most average Americans 
make all year long, every second more debt than most of us make all 
year long. And there is no end in sight.
  Deficits are going to drag this economy down. It's going to put an 
anchor around the young people's necks, those

[[Page H4923]]

of our children and grandchildren. What I think is frustrating is it's 
so easy to pay for this bill. As Mr. Camp said, a trillion-dollar 
stimulus bill. They spent $3 million on a turtle crossing in Florida; 
$50,000 for a hand puppet grant. They have $390,000, this is hard to 
believe, they spent $390,000 of your money at the University of New 
York at Buffalo to study the relationship between malt liquor beer and 
smoking marijuana. Those are your tax dollars. That's what we are 
spending this deficit on.
  And what's even I think worse, as bad as the deficit is, if Democrats 
in Congress succeed in reinstating the moratorium on drilling in deep 
water, we will add 50,000 direct unemployed to these rolls. We will 
lose hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses who won't be able 
to survive this moratorium.
  The White House is determined to reinstate it, even though a Federal 
judge said it was completely inappropriate. Let's not turn an 
environmental catastrophe into an economic catastrophe. Bills like this 
that get ignored, try to run up deficits, moratoriums that kill more 
U.S. jobs, we can do better than this. I will vote ``no,'' and I urge 
commonsense Americans who support a balanced budget to vote ``no'' as 
well.
  Mr. LEVIN. I simply want to say to the gentleman from Texas he will 
have to go home, if he votes ``no,'' and give an explanation why he 
voted ``no'' when 113,000 residents of the State of Texas will have 
lost unemployment benefits by the end of this week without the 
enactment of this bill; 113,000.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members should direct their remarks to the 
Chair.
  Mr. LEVIN. I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Davis), a distinguished member of our committee.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I thank the chairman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I received a phone call early this morning from one of 
my constituents. He said to me, Congressman Davis, I have had a job 
since I was 18 years old. I have always worked, but my unemployment 
benefits ran out at the end of May. My basement is flooded as a result 
of the heavy rains. My son is in college and can't find a summer job. 
Our house is almost in foreclosure. There are no jobs to be found. And 
now I have no unemployment benefits. What can I do? And the only thing 
I could say to him was, You can keep looking, you can have faith, and 
you can have hope.
  But there is something that we can do. We can pass 5618, to extend 
unemployment benefits for you and your family, and for the other 
hundreds of thousands of families throughout America. That's the very 
least we can do, and we ought to do it now.
  Mr. CAMP. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. It's now my privilege to yield 3 minutes to the 
distinguished gentleman from New York, Charles Rangel.
  (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. RANGEL. I want to thank the chairman of the committee for 
yielding.
  I guess my appeal has to deal with America. I think that our great 
country and its successes is really not just due to investments, but 
the investments that we have in people who are willing to leave their 
home country to come to this country because they have hopes, they have 
dreams, they have the energy. And I don't know how you convert that 
into what makes America the giant that it is, but one thing is 
abundantly clear: everyone is trying to come to America, and no one is 
anxious to leave.
  This quality of believing in America and believing that you have the 
opportunity to succeed through hard work is one of the things that I 
think this recession, this setback, is costing us--something that we 
can never recover from--and that is the lack of faith. I think the 
gentleman from Chicago talked about it.
  It's not just those who are unemployed now. It's those who are 
chronically unemployed, those that don't really believe that America's 
going to give them another chance, and those that are holding on now by 
their fingernails in the hope that somebody somewhere would allow them 
to exist.
  Some lives cannot be restored. You can't get back that house, you 
can't get back your credit, you can't get back your kid in college, you 
can't get back your reputation of being a hardworking person that takes 
care of their family. And these are personal crises that most people 
overcome. But can our country overcome it? Can we tell a person that's 
worked all of his life, and his father and his grandfather, can we say 
that we have found billions of dollars for the bankers but somehow we 
are concerned about the deficit when it comes to Americans?
  The one quality that we have is we believe in this country, we 
believe in hard work, and we believe that our country supports that 
type of thing. We can't talk about the other House, we can't talk about 
the deficit, we can't talk about Republicans and Democrats. We are 
talking about the heart of our country, and that is the dreams and the 
aspirations that we will never let workers down.
  So we are not talking about welfare, unwanted children, or any of 
those things except what our flag is made of; and our flag is made of 
hope and support from this great country. So I do hope, Madam Speaker, 
that people try to understand everybody in this Chamber knows somebody 
that's not going to come back the same way that this crisis has hit 
them. We have an ability to ease the pain and to save the faith of 
those people who have not yet reached that point that they know that 
our country has let them down.
  I just thank my colleagues for being sensitive enough to know that we 
do care, and we want the country to know that this could happen to 
them. So many people are depending on us. I hope this body will not let 
them down.
  Mr. CAMP. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. It is now my privilege to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 
from Massachusetts, a distinguished Member, Mr. Rich Neal.
  Mr. NEAL. Thank you for yielding, Mr. Chairman.
  Some of the best speeches that I have ever listened to and/or read 
come from the legendary mayor of Boston, James Michael Curley. And 
Curley spoke with great empathy about the forgotten man, those 
individuals who for whatever reason have found themselves outside of 
the mainstream of economic life. He also would suggest that, in 
simplicity, that the great ally of civilization was a full stomach. And 
we need to be reminded of that with the grim economic statistics that 
America is currently witnessing.
  Now, also another very pertinent reminder here that I think that we 
all ought to recall: in October of 2008, in record time this House 
voted to come to the aid of Wall Street. It didn't take us long, with 
the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to keep standing many of those 
institutions that helped create the problem that we find ourselves 
currently in.
  Now, why is that relevant? There are millions of people across this 
country who have simply found themselves without work. What does that 
do to an individual who has spent a career, and after 30 years finds 
the job is gone? And we treat them as though they are simply a 
statistic after perhaps they served us in an honorable manner in 
Vietnam, or currently in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or other theaters around 
the world?
  America's about building community, Madam Speaker. America's about a 
place where nobody's to be abandoned and nobody's to be left behind. 
The great bounty of God's work has been to ensure that most people in 
America have shelter and food. This opportunity to extend unemployment 
benefits for the American people ought to meet this moment.
  Mr. CAMP. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson 
Lee).

                              {time}  1300

  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I was listening to the 
tribute to Senator Byrd yesterday on the floor of the Senate, the other 
body, and I was struck by one comment on his integrity. It was that if 
Senator Byrd gave you his word you could go to the bank on it.
  I rise today to support this legislation because I want the American 
people to know that this Congress who has

[[Page H4924]]

taken their vote really needs to stand by its word. That word is to be 
there for America during a rainy day. This unemployment insurance 
extension is not a handout; it's a hand up. Democrats have voted to 
create thousands of jobs in America but it is not enough.
  All the economists will tell you that Americans are not at work 
because they don't want to work. They are not at work because jobs have 
not been created, and one of the downfalls of the bailout, for those of 
us who did vote against it but because of the outpouring of our own 
constituents who asked us to vote ``yes,'' we voted ``yes'' for small 
businesses and businesses in general to create jobs, but if the too-
big-to-fail banks refuse to give them loans to create jobs then we are 
stuck with no job creation at the level we would like.
  We need to be able to provide for those who need us now, provide for 
those without jobs or losing jobs, and get off this high horse of 
breaking your word to the American people.
  Mr. CAMP. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  As I said in my opening comments, there are many people on this side 
who have and do support helping the long-term unemployed. I voted for 
these benefits. This will represent the eighth extension of 
unemployment benefits since July of 2008. Of those eight bills, one has 
been paid for.
  I heard my friend on the other side so eloquently speak of the 
forgotten man. What about the future of this country? What about the 
children and grandchildren who are going to be left paying this debt?
  The issue isn't should we extend benefits to the unemployed. The 
issue is should they be paid for or should they simply add to the 
deficit and further compound our problems.
  I happen to serve on the debt commission, the fiscal responsibility 
commission. We had testimony there from an expert who analyzed 200 
years of world history and every country in the world and said that 
when your national debt gets to 90 percent of your GDP, which we're at 
now, you end up hurting the economic growth of the country by about 1 
percent, and in America, that means 1 million jobs. That means by 
adding to the debt and deficit, we're costing jobs.
  Now, what we need to do is help grow this economy, and let me just 
say that these unemployment insurance benefits are not paid for in this 
bill. Of the $34 billion that would be spent on UI, not a penny is paid 
for. This bill is declared an emergency, and therefore, this $34 
billion will be added to our already record $13 trillion debt, but it 
doesn't have to be that way.
  The House actually passed, as I mentioned, one extension bill last 
fall that was fully paid for, and here's what a colleague of mine on 
the Ways and Means Committee, a senior Democrat, said in a press 
release, and this is also found on his Web site: ``In passing the 
legislation . . . the bill does not increase the deficit . . . the 
extension is fully paid for.''
  And here is what the Statement of Administration Policy said about 
that bill: ``Fiscal responsibility is central to the medium-term 
recovery of the economy and the creation of jobs. The administration 
therefore supports the fiscally responsible approach to expanding 
unemployment benefits embodied in the bill.''
  So, by the administration's logic, the fiscally irresponsible bill 
before us undermines the medium-term recovery of the economy and the 
creation of jobs.
  Let's vote ``no'' on this bill today so that we can come back 
tomorrow and pass a bill that extends unemployment benefits that is 
fully paid for and does not jeopardize the future of this country and 
the need for economic growth that is so important to getting us out of 
this recession.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on H.R. 5618.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield myself the balance of my time.
  I have listened to my colleague from Michigan who comes here almost 
alone, and I think those who vote ``no'' when they go back home are 
really going to find themselves basically alone, because those who vote 
``no'' have no place to hide.
  This is an emergency for 1.7 million people and their families right 
now; therefore, it's an emergency for the community of the United 
States of America. And that 1.7 million will grow and grow under this 
banner that is floated by the minority.
  Look, the excuses fall of their own lack of weight. You say we did 
nothing on the Democratic side. Yes, we passed a bill that extended 
unemployment insurance. They could not find a single Republican in the 
Senate to vote for that bill. And so you finger point at those who 
acted and excuse those who refused to act?
  And you bring up the deficit, a deficit that grew under the previous 
administration. You can't hide behind that. This is an emergency.
  You can't hide behind the Republican bill either because, as I 
understand it, it was for 1 month paid for and that month is gone. You 
have not come up with any responsible, feasible way to excuse inaction.
  Unemployment insurance was extended many times under Republican 
Presidents, so you don't even have that excuse.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cuellar). Members will address their 
remarks to the Chair.
  Mr. LEVIN. There's no excuse, and so what was done under previous 
administrations, Republican and Democratic, should be done right today. 
I'm afraid you don't see that there's an emergency for the families, 
soon to be 2 million.
  And also, let me say in terms of economic growth, when you provide 
unemployment insurance to people, they spend it. So, if you're worried 
about growth and consumer demand, put money in the pockets of people 
who are desperate, who are out of work, who are looking for work. 
Instead, you turn your back on them.
  I want to read a story. I met this person in Hazel Park, Michigan, 
last weekend. He served 3 years and 9 months in the U.S. Army, 
including a year tour in Iraq. He has an associate's degree from a 
community college and a bachelor's degree. He was employed by a loan 
company, a mortgage company, as a broker, and then the mortgage crisis 
came and he was laid off. He was unemployed for 3 years, and then he 
was hired by Kmart as an assistant store manager. He was laid off in 
2009, August, due to store closings.

                              {time}  1310

  He has currently, approximately, 4 weeks left on his Tier 1 
extension, due to expire on July 14. There are 1.7 million people like 
this gentleman already in this country.
  I don't know how you look them in the face. I don't know how you 
explain a ``no'' vote. I think the flimsy arguments that are used won't 
work in this hall and won't work back home.
  This is an emergency. I really can't believe that people from the 
minority are going to come here and vote ``no.'' They are voting ``no'' 
for millions. I think they are voting ``no'' for what is best in the 
United States of America. We are a community of people. When people 
lose their jobs and can't find them, we don't simply stand idly by. 
This is the time for you to stand up, and the only way to stand up is 
to vote ``yes.''
  I plead on behalf of the millions of people in this country who are 
out of work, who are looking for jobs, that you provide the 
unemployment insurance that they have worked for and that should be 
provided. Don't turn your backs on them. In the end, there will be no 
excuse, no excuse, no excuse.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this much-
needed legislation to extend unemployment insurance benefits through 
November 2010.
  Though we are showing signs of economic recovery, millions of 
Americans remain out of work through no fault of their own. Without 
this extension, an estimated 1.7 million individuals will lose their 
unemployment benefits by July 3, 2010. This legislation would help 
these individuals and their families by retroactively restoring the 
benefits that they began losing as early as the end of May. We need to 
help those families who are struggling to make ends meet.
  Protecting the middle class, rebuilding our economy, and providing 
job growth remains

[[Page H4925]]

our top priority. While there has been five consecutive months of job 
growth, much more work needs to be done to make up for the 8 million 
jobs lost while we continue to rebuild the economy. We inherited an 
economic mess that favored corporate special interests at the expense 
of the middle class. And we are still cleaning up that mess. Extending 
these benefits is not only the right thing to do for these families, 
but at the same time it will help the economy as a whole. If 
individuals are unable to buy food and pay their mortgages or rent, the 
economy could slide back into recession.
  Mr. Speaker, we wouldn't be here if our Republican colleagues in the 
Senate had blocked previous legislation to extend unemployment 
benefits. I urge all my colleagues not turn our backs on those 
Americans who are out of a job and continue to struggle to find work.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 
5618, Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act. If there 
is a single federal program that is absolutely critical to people in 
communities all across this Nation at this time, it would be 
unemployment compensation benefits. People cannot function without some 
means to subsist, while continuing to look for work that in many places 
in the country is just not there. Families have to feed children. 
Unemployed workers, many of whom rely on public transportation, need to 
be able to get to potential employers' places of work. Utility payments 
must be paid.
  Most people use their unemployment benefits to pay for the basics. No 
one is getting rich from unemployment benefits, because the weekly 
benefit checks are solely providing for basic food, medicine, gasoline 
and other necessary things many individuals with no other means of 
income are not able to afford.
  Personal and family savings have been exhausted and 401(ks) have been 
tapped, leaving many individuals and families desperate for some type 
of assistance until the economy improves and additional jobs are 
created. The extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term 
unemployed is an emergency. You do not play with people's lives when 
there is an emergency. Unemployment is an emergency. Just ask someone 
who has been unemployed and looking for work, and they will tell you 
the same.
  With a national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, preventing and 
prolonging people from receiving unemployment benefits is a national 
tragedy. In the city of Houston, the unemployment rate stands at 8.3 
percent, with more than 241,152 individuals remaining unemployed. 
Indeed, I cannot tell you how difficult it has been to explain to my 
constituents who are unemployed that there will be no further extension 
of unemployment benefits until the Congress acts. Whether the 
justification for inaction is the size of the debt or the need for 
deficit reduction, it is clear that it is more prudent to act 
immediately to give individuals and families looking for work a means 
to survive the hot summer of 2010--only made more unbearable by this 
nonsensical approach to their plight.
  H.R. 5618 is just the right measure at the right time. The 
legislation will send a message to the Nation's unemployed, that this 
Congress is dedicated to helping those trying to help themselves. Until 
the economy begins to create more jobs at a much faster pace, and the 
various stimulus programs continue to accelerate project activity in 
the economy, we cannot sit idly and ignore the unemployed. As such, I 
urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5618.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5618.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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