[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 186 (Tuesday, December 6, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8363-S8365]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    EXTENDING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I rise about the most important job that 
faces the Senate in the remainder of the year; that is, extending the 
unemployment benefits for millions of unemployed Americans struggling 
to find a job.
  I wish I didn't have to be down here talking about this today. I wish 
it weren't necessary to debate whether we should continue the Federal 
unemployment insurance program. I wish everyone in this Chamber would 
acknowledge that the recovery is still a work in progress and that we 
would agree about the critical need to continue to support struggling 
workers and their families. We have never failed to extend benefits in 
the past when unemployment was this high. But, unfortunately, in 
today's hyperpartisan atmosphere, even the most commonsense policies 
can turn into political footballs, and the unemployment insurance 
program seems to be no exception.
  The extreme right is on the attack, blaming the victims who have been 
the hardest hit by this economic crisis. In the same breath that they 
push for more cuts in corporate taxes and cuts in taxes to high-income 
individuals, Republican leaders argue we can't afford to extend 
unemployment benefits for people who are struggling to find a job. 
Congresswoman Bachmann, a candidate for President, recently went so far 
to say: ``If anyone will not work, neither should he eat.''

  In an economy where there are four unemployed workers for every 
available job, the cruelty of that comment is simply astonishing. There 
are 13 million unemployed Americans right now. Actually, I think the 
figure is probably a little bit higher than that. They are desperately 
looking for any job they can find, many relying on unemployment 
benefits to put food on the table for their children.
  Six million Americans will be cut off this last lifeline if Congress 
does not renew the benefits for the long-term unemployed--6 million who 
will be cut off right after the holiday season. I hope no one in this 
body on either side of the aisle will say they deserve this additional 
hardship during this holiday season.
  There are real people and real families behind these numbers. They 
are our friends and neighbors. I have heard from so many of these hard-
working people from my home State of Iowa and across the country. Their 
stories are truly heartbreaking.
  A woman from Des Moines recently wrote me:

       I was laid off in July 2011. I recently attended a class at 
     the unemployment office in Des Moines, where I was informed 
     that my unemployment will cease as of December the 31st if 
     any extensions that are currently in place are discontinued. 
     The average person is currently unemployed for 40 weeks, 
     which is much longer than the 26 weeks that is available 
     [without] any extensions. I was the main breadwinner in our 
     family and if my unemployment would cease before I find a 
     job, we would forced to be on welfare, food stamps, and other 
     government subsidies. We would also lose our home. I hope 
     that you consider the many other people that are probably in 
     the same situation as I am and hope that you will keep the 
     current extensions in place.

  A woman from Stanton, IA, writes:

       I lost a great job in June of 2010 and have been receiving 
     unemployment benefits since then. . . . If not for the 
     unemployment [benefits], I don't know how we would make it. I 
     continue to look for a better paying job but as you probably 
     know, Montgomery County, Iowa has had the highest 
     unemployment rate in Iowa. It's been tough. . . . Will 
     appreciate your support in extending unemployment benefits as 
     I continue my quest for a new position.

  The main reason folks need their benefits to continue is they simply

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cannot find new work, even after exhausting their benefits. There are 
simply not enough jobs in this struggling economy. How can we even 
think about abruptly terminating these benefits right now, cutting off 
the last lifeline to Americans in dire need?
  A man from Estherville, IA, wrote:

       I woke up last week to find my benefits exhausted but no 
     closer to finding a job. I do everything possible to find 
     work but nothing materializes. Age-discrimination is rampant 
     and there is nothing an individual can do about it. . . . 
     Right now, after working since I was 12 years old, I'm facing 
     hunger and hopelessness at 57 years of age.

  A man from West Des Moines wrote:

       I'm a home designer/architect and have been laid off three 
     times since 2007, after working almost 16 years at one firm. 
     I have now decided to go back to school to try to find a 
     different career in information technology. I hate not having 
     a job, and want to work but there's just not anything out 
     there in architecture. Everyone seems to have circled the 
     wagons and are not hiring. Please help.

  A woman from Madrid, IA, writes:

       I lost my job (of 32 years) 2\1/2\ years ago. I lived off 
     my severance for the first year. Then savings and then went 
     on unemployment. Now my unemployment has run out. I have had 
     a few interview[s] without any luck. I have been working part 
     time for minimum wage and I only get 15 hours a week in. It's 
     the only job that I could find.

  This is just a sampling of the letters we get in our office. But it 
is clear people want to work. They desperately want to work.
  Later this week, the committee I chair, the Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions Committee, will hold a hearing to look at the reasons so 
many millions of workers who want to work are unable to get back to new 
jobs quickly. We will hear from experts, workers, and community leaders 
about the barriers facing the long-term unemployed, especially those 
over the age of 50.
  But there are some things we don't need an expert to tell us. We know 
people can't find new jobs because there are so few jobs out there. As 
I said, right now, more than 13 million people are officially counted 
as actively looking for work. But that is an understatement. There are 
millions more people with part-time jobs, of necessity, who want full-
time work, millions more on top of that who have basically stopped 
looking for work because they think a job search will be fruitless. 
They have already tried time and time again and they have given up. But 
if they had a job, if they got a job, they would take it.
  When we add up all that, with a number of young people who have not 
entered the workforce--maybe they have looked for work, they can't find 
it, they are young, and especially if they are young and African 
American, the unemployment rate soars to 30 to 40 percent. They can't 
find a job. If we add that all up, we are talking about nearly 28 
million unemployed and marginally employed people in America.
  There are many other barriers to reemployment. I have talked about 
older workers. Not only have many of them gone through their retirement 
savings, many have lost their home that they spent decades paying a 
mortgage on, they have been unable to send their kids to college, and 
on top of that, they face the indignity of being passed over in favor 
of younger workers simply because of their age.
  Again, it is not to say that younger workers have an easy time. I 
have also many stories of young people, many with college degrees, who 
can't find work. They are piecing together a meager existence on part-
time service jobs that waste the time, effort, and money they have 
poured into an expensive education. I can't tell you how many young 
people I have talked to who have a college degree, they are not working 
in their chosen profession, but they are working at mostly part-time 
work or at service-oriented jobs that they know will not last them a 
lifetime, and service-oriented jobs that pay them a pittance compared 
to what they should be earning with their college degree. Still other 
workers hear they cannot be considered by employers because they have 
been unemployed for too long. This is so, even when a recruiter tells 
them they are perfectly well qualified for the job.

  More workers want to move in order to take advantage of a new 
opportunity they have heard about elsewhere but, guess what, their 
house is underwater. Not physically. That means they owe more on their 
mortgage than the house is worth and they cannot sell it. Or they have 
been out of work so long they have no money left to even afford to 
move. They cannot even afford to pack up the U-Haul and move someplace.
  Still other workers have trouble with transportation or childcare or 
other day-to-day issues that make it much harder to get an employer to 
take a chance on them. Someone came up and said to me one time: You 
know, for people who do not get a job, there are places in this country 
where there are jobs. They can move. It is a free country.
  I said: What about a single mother who has two kids and she relies 
upon her mother as a babysitter, as a childcare person to take care of 
the kids when she is out working on a minimum wage job, maybe part 
time? How is she going to pack up and move those kids when she has, 
frankly, free help from her mother? These are real barriers that real 
people face every day of their lives.
  These problems illustrate why the long-term unemployed who are 
working hard and playing by the rules still cannot get a job because of 
the factors beyond their control. Rather than chastising the victims, 
we should be giving a hand up to people in their hour of greatest need 
and help them to get back into the workforce.
  This support is critical, not only for the workers and families 
affected but for our economy overall. Research shows that for every 
dollar of unemployed benefits that is spent, we generate $2 in economic 
activity. Why is that? Because this money is not saved, it is not put 
into a shoe box, it is spent on essentials, helping businesses up and 
down Main Street in communities across the country. In addition, if 
unemployment benefits are extended, we will save about 560,000 jobs, 
according to the Economic Policy Institute.
  By contrast, if we fail to renew these benefits, our economy will be 
deprived of many billions of dollars of economic activity next year. In 
the end, this will have a negative impact on overall gross domestic 
product. On the one hand, with benefits we boost our economy with a 
potent return on investment, we help people in their hour of need, and 
we meet our moral obligations as a society. But without benefits, we 
hurt our economy by shrinking consumer demand, by destroying jobs, and 
we do not meet our moral obligation as a caring government and a caring 
people.
  There is a strong economic case for renewing unemployment insurance, 
but I also say there is a strong human case for extending the benefits. 
Where is our basic human compassion? The thought of letting these 
benefits expire is unconscionable, especially during this Christmas 
season. After looking for work for at least 6 months but often more, 
many of these people already have lost their jobs, their homes, their 
savings, and they are now at risk of losing their last lifeline, the 
roughly $300 a week they receive in unemployment benefits.
  The bills do not stop coming when someone loses his or her job. The 
rent or mortgage, the electricity, car payments--all have to be made. 
The family still has to buy food, gasoline, medicine, school supplies, 
clothes. Unemployment benefits are a lifeline for the millions of folks 
who are living without an income and trying to survive. These benefits 
kept more than 3 million people from falling into poverty last year.
  We have a moral obligation, those of us privileged to serve in the 
Senate and the House, to continue the Federal unemployment insurance 
programs while the economy continues to slowly recover. We cannot allow 
these benefits to expire. We cannot allow millions of our friends, 
neighbors, and relatives to sink into absolute poverty and desperation. 
We cannot fail to take action because that failure will result in 
families being put out on the street, children going to bed hungry, 
families left to shiver in the cold of their unheated homes.
  I urge my colleagues to vote on this matter as soon as possible. 
During this holiday season, it is cruel to put millions of unemployed 
Americans in the position of wondering how they are going to survive 
come January 1 of next year. Let us renew these benefits for another 
year. Let us spend the next year doing everything we can to rebuild our 
economy, create jobs, and

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provide employment to everyone who wants to work in this great Nation.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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