[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H31]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, last month, many of us stood here and pleaded 
with Speaker Boehner to act to extend unemployment insurance for 1.3 
million hurting Americans, including over 213,000 in California alone.
  Everyday Americans, people like Vincent, who have lost their jobs 
through no fault of their own, will be devastated if we do not right 
this wrong. Vincent is 57 and worked at Bank of America in my home 
State of California. He says that he has interviewed with other 
organizations since being laid off but that he has not found a job. He 
has not given up, but Vincent worries that he may have to start 
sleeping in his car and going to food pantries since losing his 
unemployment benefits on December 28.
  Mr. Speaker, we have the ability to help these people. Congress has 
extended unemployment insurance time and time again with wide 
bipartisan support because it was the right thing to do. As human 
beings and as legislators, we must do that again.
  Earlier, many of us stood with President Johnson's daughter Lynda 
Johnson Robb as we marked the 50th anniversary of President Johnson's 
declaration of an unconditional war on poverty; and in this ongoing war 
on poverty, extending unemployment benefits to Americans who have lost 
their jobs is one of our greatest weapons.

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