[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7732-S7733]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    EXTENDING UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, when the earthquake on Wall Street sent 
shockwaves throughout the country, Nevada got hit the worst. The 
economic collapse took down our housing and job markets along with it.
  When so many Nevadans lost their jobs, they lost much more than just 
a place to go to work in the morning. They lost their incomes, their 
savings and their retirement security. Many lost their gas money and 
their grocery money. Some lost their children's tuition payments. They 
have lost a measure of dignity. All of this through no fault of their 
own.
  But even after losing so much, they haven't lost hope. Now they wake 
up every morning and look for new work, a new way to support their 
families.
  It hasn't been easy. Jobs are harder to come by today than at any 
other time in recent memory. The Labor Department reports there is only 
one open job in America for every five Americans desperate to fill it. 
As a result, nearly half of the unemployed in this country have been 
out of work for 6 months or longer.
  One of those people is Scott Headrick of Las Vegas. Scott's been out 
of work for more than two years. He wrote me recently because he's 
angry how some on the other side are trying for political reasons to 
stigmatize and demonize the unemployed.
  He has good reason to be upset. One of the top Republicans in the 
Senate called unemployment assistance a ``disincentive for them to seek 
new work.'' Another senior Republican Senator said these Americans--
people who want nothing more than to find a new job--``don't want to go 
look for work.'' And a third senior Republican Senator argued, ``We 
should not be giving cash to people who basically are just going to 
blow it on drugs.'' That's a direct quote. Others have made the absurd 
allegation that you can make more money on unemployment than through a 
honest day's work.
  These comments are not only offensive; they're also dead wrong. And 
that's why Scott was so upset. He wrote me the following:
  ``I've been unemployed since July 2008 and have not been able to 
obtain a position at a supermarket packing groceries. I've been 
religiously seeking, searching and applying for work without any luck. 
I have since left my family in Las Vegas, a wife and five children, to 
look for work in other states and again, without any luck.''
  While people like Scott seek, search and apply for work, they rely on 
unemployment insurance to get by. No one gets rich off of unemployment 
checks. They merely provide a fraction of one's old income to help keep 
food on the table this week, and keep a roof over a head this month, 
and keep the heat on this winter.
  Unemployment insurance doesn't only help the out-of-work make ends 
meet--it can also help our economy recover. Respected economist Mark 
Zandi calculated that every time a dollar goes out in an unemployment 
check, $1.61 comes back into the economy. The Congressional Budget 
Office has estimated that number could actually be as high as two 
dollars, meaning we double our investment.
  It is easy to see why. When you are desperate, you don't keep that 
check under your mattress. You turn around

[[Page S7733]]

and spend the money. You immediately pay your bills and go to the store 
and keep up with your mortgage payments.
  You spend it on the basics and the bare necessities while you look 
for work. The money goes right back into the economy, which strengthens 
it, fuels growth and ultimately lets businesses create the very jobs 
the unemployed have been looking for, for so long.
  But those benefits don't last forever. They expire. And in a crisis 
like today's, expiring benefits are leaving too many out in the cold. 
The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said 
that 22,000 Nevadans have exhausted both their state and federal 
benefits. Nationwide, that number reaches well into the millions.
  I am proud to cosponsor Senator Stabenow's bill to help the hardest 
hit among us: out-of-work Americans who have exhausted their 
unemployment insurance. It is called the Americans Want to Work Act, 
and it is called that for a very good reason.
  Contrary to the other side's reckless and heartless spin, the people 
we are trying to help want to find work. They're trying to find work. 
And they would much rather get a paycheck than an unemployment check.
  These are people who have tried and tried to find work, who scour job 
listings, who send out resumes, who fill out applications, who go to 
interviews--but who haven't had any luck for weeks and months and, in 
some cases, years.
  The Americans Want to Work Act recognizes that we can do more to help 
those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
  First, it extends unemployment benefits for an additional 20 weeks--
the longest extension ever to match the most painful crisis we've seen 
in generations.
  Second, it takes the powerful and successful incentives we're giving 
businesses to hire and makes them even better. We passed a bill this 
year--the HIRE Act--that says to businesses: If you hire unemployed 
workers, we will give you a tax cut--you don't have to pay the Social 
Security payroll tax this year. These incentives are already working; 
businesses are starting to hire because of it. Senator Stabenow's bill 
will extend that tax credit through next year, too.
  It will also double the tax credit we're giving businesses for 
keeping those previously long-term unemployed workers on the payroll 
for at least one year. The HIRE Act gave businesses a $1,000 tax credit 
for each such new hire. Senator Stabenow's bill will raise that tax 
credit to $2,000 for workers who have exhausted their unemployment 
benefits.
  Hundreds of thousands of Nevadans and millions of Americans want to 
work. Like Scott Headrick, they seek, search and apply, but time and 
again they hear nothing but ``no'' in return. What a shame it is that 
they are hearing the same answer from Republicans in the Senate when we 
propose sound legislation like this to give them a hand when they're 
hurting the most.
  Americans need jobs. Nevadans need jobs. And it is our job to help 
them.

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