[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 183 (Thursday, December 1, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H8008-H8009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  EXTENDING UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RANGEL. My colleagues, I once again rise asking that we 
immediately consider extending the Federal Unemployment Compensation 
Act.
  It seems as though I walked into this movie before, last year, and we 
were begging once again that we throw away the labels of being Democrat 
or Republican and reach out to make an appeal as to what makes this 
country different from other countries.
  This is the only country in the world that no one wants to leave and 
everyone wants to come in. And it's not because of the differences we 
have with the rich and the poor. It's that always in this country we 
extended hope. We allowed people to believe that they were never really 
truly alone. And then we find a circumstance that Americans, 
hardworking Americans are trying to fulfill that American Dream--once 
again not to become a Wall Street broker, and certainly not to be 
living a life of poverty, but to join that middle class that has been 
the engine for hope and economic advancement for our country. And we 
find this situation now that, through no fault of their own, these 
dreams have been shattered. People have not only lost their jobs, but 
they've lost their self-esteem, they've lost their savings, they have 
not been able to send their kids to college.
  And so what is it that we can do since it's abundantly clear that in 
this Congress there is a gridlock? And we don't want you to lose hope 
because there's things that Americans can do. It's not just waiting for 
this Congress to act, because you hold in your hands the power to 
control this Congress. And we should not have to wait until next year 
in order to say that you can express yourself at the polls. No indeed.
  Every Member of Congress--435 of us here--are anxiously waiting for 
your call, and I hope that call would be a call of compassion. It 
should be a call from our ministers, from our Catholics and Protestants 
and Jews and synagogues and Mormons and Muslims saying that in America 
we should not have the vulnerable carrying the pain of mistakes that 
have been made. We should be hearing from our civic leaders and our 
voters and calling Republicans, Democrats, and Independents saying we 
did not send you to Washington to display just what a good Republican 
you are or what a good Democrat you are.
  We should talk about this sign up here, ``In God We Trust.'' Doesn't 
that mean something about taking care of the vulnerable, the 
unemployed, those without homes, without jobs and without hope? Doesn't 
it mean that we have a tradition as Members of Congress? And doesn't it 
mean that our voters have a responsibility not to just say how bad we 
are, but to say how good they are for making certain that they're 
monitoring our conduct, not through a poll, but through our action.
  The question is, How did your Congressman vote on extending 
unemployment compensation?

                              {time}  1100

  Rather than wait for the good or bad news, call now. Call today. Call 
every day this week.
  They'll never have a Thanksgiving or a Christmas that they used to 
have, but they can't give up hope. They can't give in and they can't 
give up.
  So I am saying for America, you don't have to go and protest, even 
though I appreciate the fact that these courageous men and women are 
doing it. You don't have to walk those civil rights marches. But you 
can at least get in touch with your Member of Congress, remind him or 
her of their constitutional responsibility, and remind them of their 
moral responsibility to the vulnerable among us, the sick, the aged, 
the unemployed, those that played by the rules, and we know have 
nothing to do with the situation they find themselves in economically.
  We can make a change, but it's going to take the American people to 
come together and say they're mad as hell and they're not going to take 
it anymore.
  So let's make an appeal that America takes the Congress back. Direct 
not ourselves to do things in order to get reelected but direct we do 
things because it's the right thing to do.

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