[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 14, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H5552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR AMERICANS

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, Senate Republicans continue to refuse to 
allow the extension of unemployment insurance benefits to the American 
people. Let me tell you what that does in my State.
  If we don't extend those benefits within a very short period of time, 
125,000 Kentuckians will be without the means to support their 
families. That means, in addition to human suffering, we're talking 
about $125 million a month that will not be spent in the Kentucky 
economy. Multiply that across the country, and you see the incredible 
effect that it can have.
  I don't think that Republicans really mean it when they say, Well, 
we're okay with supporting it, but we want to pay for it. They didn't 
say the same thing when they got into two wars, provided a new 
entitlement prescription drug benefit, and passed tax cuts for the 
wealthiest Americans.
  You can't build a political philosophy on the pain and suffering of 
the American people, but that's the only conclusion that I can reach. 
They figure, create as much pain and damage as you can create, and then 
the American people will blame the party in power for it. That's a 
pretty cynical way to approach the lives of the American people and 
Kentuckians.

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