[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 155 (Wednesday, December 1, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S8343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, today, without congressional action, 
hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose their unemployment 
benefits. Earlier this week, along with 19 of my colleagues, I 
introduced the Unemployment Insurance Stabilization Act of 2010--the 
USA bill. Our bill would reauthorize the Federal unemployment benefits 
program.
  Unemployment benefits are the only lifeline that many workers in 
Montana and across the nation have left in this tough economy. These 
benefits help millions of Americans to put food on the table and roofs 
over their heads. These benefits pump money into our economy and help 
to create jobs.
  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that unemployment 
benefits have one of the largest effects on economic output and 
employment per dollar spent of any policy.
  This Congress has spent a lot of time reauthorizing unemployment 
benefits for a few months at a time. This bill would reauthorize the 
program for a full year.
  A longer reauthorization of the unemployment benefits program would 
provide certainty. It would provide certainty for our economy. And it 
would provide the certainty that Americans looking for work need.
  This bill would fund unemployment insurance for people who have lost 
their jobs in the latter portion of the recession.
  This bill would not provide anyone with more than 99 weeks of 
benefits. This bill would ensure that out-of-work Americans who lost 
their jobs recently would get benefits similar to those received by 
their neighbors who lost their jobs earlier in the recession.
  The Department of Labor reports that for every dollar spent on 
unemployment insurance, two dollars are reinvested in the economy.
  This bill is crucial to our economy. This bill is about jobs.
  This bill is about jobs because unemployment insurance goes to people 
who will spend it immediately. That increases economic demand. And that 
helps to support our fragile economic recovery.
  CBO says that aid to the unemployed is among the policies best suited 
to creating jobs per dollar of budgetary cost.
  With unemployment at 9.6 percent, now is not the time to stop 
investing in economic recovery. This bill would keep in place a major 
source of our recovery. This bill would support Americans who have 
worked, are looking for work, and will work again.
  For millions of people, unemployment insurance is the bridge to the 
next job. This bill would provide a bridge over troubled waters.
  I think of a woman from Helena, MT, who called my office. She told us 
that unemployment benefits are keeping her family afloat. She was laid 
off when she was 8 months pregnant. And she wants the Senate to know 
that she has worked since she was a teenager. She wants to work. And 
she will work again.
  And I think of a Montana father with three small children who was 
laid off after 18 years of service. The company could no longer pay his 
wages. He has no income. But he continues to look for work. His home is 
going into foreclosure. Unemployment insurance has been his only 
income. It is what puts food on the table for his family.
  This is America. When there is an emergency, we don't leave people 
behind.
  We cannot take Federal unemployment insurance benefits away before 
our economy and out-of-work Americans have found their footing.
  Let's not leave the unemployed behind.
  I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation.

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