[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 151 (Thursday, November 18, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H7551-H7552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page H7552]]

  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, today this House will take up the question 
of whether we should extend the temporary unemployment insurance 
programs currently in place. If this House chooses not to do that, 2 
million Americans will go into the holidays wondering not whether they 
will just have a holiday meal, but whether they will have a meal at 
all.
  But let's set aside what is probably the most important thing that 
each and every one of us should think about, which is those people and 
how the holidays will look for them. Let's talk history for a second.
  The fact is that the Congress of the United States has never cut 
unemployment insurance benefits when unemployment was anywhere near 
where it is today. In fact, following the 2001 recession, the 
Republican-controlled Congress maintained temporary unemployment 
insurance until the unemployment rate fell below 6 percent, well below 
where we are today.
  Let's do something else. Let's talk economics. Every Member of this 
House knows that the most important thing we can do right now is to 
help this economy recover: Jobs.
  Financial institutions that look at this stuff tell us that if we 
allow unemployment insurance to go away, it will have a profoundly 
negative effect on the economy; a number of banks estimate half a 
percentage point of GDP. We must renew unemployment benefits.

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