[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H118-H124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of the
Congressional Progressive Caucus. During our Special Order hour, we
want to talk specifically about the need for unemployment insurance
but, more broadly, about what we need to do to make sure that everyone
in this country has access to opportunity.
Just yesterday, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the war on
poverty. President Johnson said, during his State of the Union in 1964:
Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of
hope, some because of their poverty, and some because of
their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to
help replace their despair with opportunity.
This administration today, here and now, declares
unconditional war on poverty in America. It will not be a
short or easy struggle. No single weapon or strategy will
suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won. The
richest nation on Earth can afford to win it. We cannot
afford to lose it.
Those are the words of President Johnson 50 years ago when we started
the war on poverty in this country. We created Medicare and Medicaid,
the food stamp program and programs like Head Start. And we have great
results from those programs.
In fact, according to a new study, these initial programs, coupled
with expansion of pro-work and pro-family programs, like the earned
income tax credit, have helped reduce poverty by nearly 40 percent
since the 1960s. The poverty line fell from 26 percent in 1967 to 16
percent in 2012, when the safety net is taken into account.
Now, while there has been a lot of progress, we still have far too
many people in this country who are still living in poverty or on the
brink of living in poverty. Fifteen percent of Americans today are
living below the poverty line, and that is just $11,490 for an
individual. 46.5 million people in our country are living in poverty,
and one in three Americans teeters on the brink of living in poverty.
That includes 16 million children in this country. That is more than
700,000 people in my home State of Wisconsin.
According to the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, in Rock County, in my district, a county that I
share with Congressman Paul Ryan, 22 percent of the children in that
county are living in poverty.
We still have vast inequality, income inequality. We have unlivable
wages. And we still have Members of this body, Mr. Speaker, who want to
chip away at that very economic security. It almost seems like today it
is not a war on poverty, but sometimes it seems like there is a war on
the war on poverty, that we are actually stepping backwards from the
very improvements we made over the years from 1960.
In fact, what we noticed that just happened was the not extending of
the benefits, emergency unemployment benefits back in December, on
December 28. It has affected 1.3 million Americans. Not only do we have
issues like that, but we also have an attack on food stamps, where this
very body has voted to cut $39 billion from the SNAP program, the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--$39 billion--affecting
millions and millions of Americans.
We have seen attempts to not allow us to raise the minimum wage, a
minimum wage that is entirely behind where it should be. If you took
into consideration where it should be, just for inflation from 1968,
that minimum wage in 2013 dollars would be at $10.60--not $7.25, at
$10.60. We are way behind keeping up with inflation.
Income inequality is at an all-time high. We are finding that incomes
for the top 1 percent have grown more than 31 percent since 2009, and
the bottom 99 percent of people, their income has moved less than 1
percent. So we are in a challenging time.
We know that there was an economic downfall across the globe, and
especially hard hit, we feel it in this country. And while we are
having dual activities happen, jobs are creeping back up, we are having
progress, but still, 7 percent of people are unemployed.
And while we have got those jobs creeping up, we still also notice
that
[[Page H119]]
people are being left behind with this economy, and that is exactly why
we have tried to do things like extending the unemployment insurance
benefits for people.
But unfortunately, in this body, in this very body, Mr. Speaker,
austerity has ruled the day. Austerity has taken place, instead of
prosperity. Instead of doing measures that would lift people out of
poverty and help people get a job and help people be able to support
their families, we are trying to take government down and down and
down, like they did in Europe, and they have had disastrous results
from doing that.
That is not a path out of our current economic condition. We need to
be investing in our people so that they have those opportunities. They
can grab a ring at that ladder and get a good job and be able to get
by. So there are so many things we need to do.
Unfortunately, these attacks aren't just in this body, in the
Congress. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, these attacks are even happening
in the States.
In my home State of Wisconsin, our Governor, Scott Walker, was
recently on a CNN program. And when he was asked about extending
unemployment benefits, his response was, the reason why the White House
is so actively pursuing this, unemployment insurance, is they want to
desperately talk about anything but ObamaCare.
Can you believe the Governor of a State who is 37th in job creation,
who promised when he was elected to create 250,000 jobs, and he has
done a portion of that, is somehow trying to say that helping people to
get out of poverty, helping people to be able to support their family
with groceries and to be able to pay their rent or mortgage, at a time
of still having record people who are out of work, while we are trying
to start getting jobs to come back, at 7 percent, at that time, Mr.
Speaker, that Governor can still only talk about ObamaCare, as all too
often this body has done.
We need to act now. The time to act on this, for this body, is now.
1.3 million people are currently out of work and trying to get those
benefits they need so desperately during that period that have been cut
off. And every week, across the country, 72,000 new Americans will lose
their benefits if we don't do something--72,000 thousand people across
the country.
Mr. Speaker, in our Speaker of the House's district alone, you look
at the largest cities in that district in Ohio: Springfield, Ohio,
60,000 people, that would be like having your entire city of
Springfield go unemployed in a single week; in the city of Hamilton,
62,000 people, 1 week, all out of work; Middleton, 48,000 people, you
can take that and the surrounding communities, all in 1 week, out of
work if we don't do something.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that this body do
something. 1.3 million Americans have lost these benefits at the end of
December, including 20,000 military veterans who aren't getting the
benefits they need. These are hardworking people who are still trying
to find jobs in this economy, but there are just not enough jobs yet
available. And in many fields it is even tougher.
Right now, 24,000 Wisconsinites have lost these important, vital
lifelines, and the number just keeps going up every single week by
72,000 people. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the House Republicans adjourned
Congress on December 12, more than 2 weeks before these benefits were
set to expire. We could have done something, we could have stayed and
worked, and instead we didn't. Now, because of that, we have 1.3
million and counting people who don't have access to these vital
benefits.
Now, let's just think about this. Under President Bush, five times we
extended these benefits without any strings attached like this Congress
is trying to do to this President, five times, and the unemployment was
less than the 7 percent we are at right now. It is hypocritical for us
not to do what we all did together five times under President Bush
while people are still looking for work.
The bottom line is you still need this money, not just to pay for
groceries and to pay for rent or your mortgage, but you need things to
be able to get a job. If you don't have the ability to pay for gas in
your car, how are you going to be able to find a job? You need to be
able to have that car to go to interviews to find a job.
{time} 1745
You need to be able to pay for your phone so you can receive a phone
call for these jobs. These are all reasons why we need to make sure
those benefits are available for all too many people in this country.
There is also what happens to the economy when you don't have these
benefits in place. Just in the first week since Congress cut off long-
term unemployment, our local economies across America lost $400 million
of potential economic activity, and that is going to grow every single
week. So it is a double-whammy: not only the people who are desperately
looking for work, trying to find that job, not able to find that job,
but we are also going to have even more people be unemployed because of
the overall impact that has on the economy.
It has been said that 200,000 jobs would be lost in 2014, and we are
going to decrease the gross domestic product simply by not doing these
benefits. The bottom line is, there are so many reasons why we need to
do this. Later, I am going to talk more about my State of Wisconsin and
why it is important.
I am joined by one of my colleagues here today who is actually the
cochair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representative Raul
Grijalva. Representative Grijalva has served in Congress for six terms.
He is a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and he
also serves on the Committee on Natural Resources, where he is the
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental
Regulation.
He is a tremendous Member of Congress. He has been a mentor to many
of us who are freshmen, who recently have joined, and is a very strong
member of our Progressive Caucus, speaking on behalf of each and every
American who needs opportunity. It is my pleasure to yield now to the
gentleman from Arizona, Representative Grijalva.
Mr. GRIJALVA. Congressman, let me at the outset thank you for the
opportunity to provide some clarity to the discussion and the lack of
debate, many times, in this House about what is really important to the
American people. That clarity is important to this whole Congress. It
is important specifically to our Democrats and in particular to the
Progressive Caucus, of which you are a member, and I want to thank you
for that and for your efforts.
The Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program expired on
the 28th because of a lack of action on the part of the majority--the
majority being the Republicans--cutting off an average weekly benefit
of $300, as has been stated, to 1.3 million job seekers. Without that
extension, another 72,000 Americans on average are estimated to lose
their unemployment insurance every week during the first half of this
new year.
All economists agree that providing extended unemployment benefits is
one of the most effective job creation strategies available during a
high period of joblessness. In this period of economic uncertainty,
every $1 of unemployment compensation creates 52 cents in additional
economic activity beyond that dollar. The nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office estimates that extending benefits for another year will
save 200,000 jobs.
The failure by the Republicans to extend Federal unemployment
insurance at the end of last week is already taking more than $400
million out of the pockets of American job seekers nationwide and State
economies.
Unemployment insurance is viewed as a very effective stimulus because
Americans without jobs tend to spend their unemployment insurance right
away and on the very basic needs that they and their families need.
Democrats have called on Congress to extend the Federal emergency
unemployment insurance program through 2014. Congress must act soon to
restore those necessary benefits to the unemployed workers and to their
families.
This economy still has 1 million fewer jobs than before the Great
Recession began; 37 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for
more than 6 months; almost 1.9 million more would lose their
unemployment benefits in the first half of 2014, as their State
benefits run out.
[[Page H120]]
In my State of Arizona, the failure by the GOP, the Republicans, to
reinstate and extend the unemployment compensation benefits directly
affected 17,100 unemployed workers in Arizona. An additional 22,500
unemployed workers will lose their benefits in the first 6 months of
2014 if this Congress does not act.
Arizona has an average of an 8.3 percent unemployment rate throughout
the State. There has been a 20 percent reduction in unemployment
benefits to these workers since 2011. So we stand a chance, in Arizona,
to save up to 2,000 jobs and reinstate for 17,000 people their
unemployment benefits if this Congress were to act now.
We are here today, with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan)
managing this hour, to talk about the necessity and the urgency of the
extension of unemployment benefits that has to be a priority for this
Congress.
For those willing workers and their families, it is an essential,
essential act by this Congress. These workers should not be pawns in
political gamesmanship or in gotcha strategies by the Republicans to
try to, in effect, embarrass the President. That does not need to be
part of this equation. As Mr. Pocan pointed out, this has been dealt
with in a bipartisan manner. This renewal, regardless of who has been
in the White House, has been a response to the needs of the American
people and their workers. I also believe that people receiving
unemployment should not be subjected to punitive, mean-spirited
requirements in order to receive that support.
We need action. We don't need posturing. We don't need empty
preaching from the majority on extending unemployment benefits. That
needs to be done and done immediately.
As we talk about unemployment benefits and their extension, I also
want to mention that we have to realize that there is not a subtle or
overly covert agenda at work here by the majority. We see the nonaction
on unemployment, a vital and necessary response that, in the past, has
been met with bipartisan support. We now see cuts amounting to $20
billion in nutrition and basic sustenance support for people in need,
the SNAP program in the farm bill. That cumulative effect of $20
billion will affect many, many families, children, and adults
throughout this country.
There is also a growing wage and income inequality and disparity in
this country. That has been as a consequence of policies in which we
reward those that are doing well--and God bless them, and they should
do well, and we should be proud of them--we reward them with tax
breaks, with loopholes, and with the ability to increase their income
and their purchasing power while at the same time shifting the burden
of responsibility for basic services in this country to hardworking,
middle class people in this country. That income inequality is possibly
one of the most dangerous economic realities that is happening to this
Nation, and that, too, is an agenda that is going on and continues to
go on in the policies and the initiatives that are being promoted by
the majority party in this House.
There is a huge need in this country for a livable minimum wage that
pays people for the actual work that they do. We can't ignore the
sequester cuts and how they have directly affected child care and the
ability for parents, and particularly women, to be able to work and
have some security that their children are being taken care of. The
cuts in that area, in Head Start, in particular, are going to be
devastating; early childhood education, the cuts in that area, and the
freedom that it would provide parents to be able to feel secure about
being at work while their children are learning and being taken care
of.
The cuts in job training and the ability for people to seek new
careers and change the orientation of where they are working, that has
been cut. Public education, an investment strategy that, in hard
economic times, has been critical to our country, again, is being cut.
Access and affordability of higher education, again, being cut.
There has been no jobs bill. It was interesting to hear the Speaker
of the House say the other day that it is the Democrats' fault that
there is no jobs agenda that has been presented. There has been a jobs
agenda presented over and over again by a variety of colleagues in this
House, in the Senate, and by the administration. The inaction and them
turning their face to that reality has been a consequence of the
leadership in this House that has refused to deal with that.
Unemployment benefits are part of a greater crisis, a crisis of
economic fairness in this country, a crisis that demands that this
Congress look beyond its own rhetoric and look at the reality.
In my district, every time in our office people come in seeking help
from us, and, invariably, the biggest request is, How can I find a job?
How can I get trained for a new career? How can I get myself in a
situation where I can go back to work and feel secure in taking care of
and supporting my family? For single heads of households, it is the
same issue.
I would suggest that if we really want to deal with the economics and
not just provide rhetoric about jobs that we look at the first
necessary step: extend these unemployment benefits, provide some
security and some sustainability to millions of workers in this
country, and then move on to the real agenda, which is to provide some
fairness to these workers and some opportunities to these workers.
Again, Congressman Pocan, I appreciate the time and yield back.
Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Congressman Grijalva, for so articulately
outlining the austerity policy of the House Republican leadership and
their stunning lack of ability to get anything done to help the 1.3
million people who are out of work and the 72,000 Americans each and
every week that are going to lose their benefits if this House doesn't
act.
It is now my pleasure to introduce a stalwart progressive in the U.S.
Congress, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial
Services, as well as a member of the House Steering and Policy
Committee. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and
was past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. It is my honor to now
yield to Representative Maxine Waters.
Ms. WATERS. I would certainly like to thank the gentleman from
Wisconsin, Representative Mark Pocan, for yielding to me, and I
congratulate him for organizing this Congressional Progressive Caucus
Special Order on unemployment insurance.
Fifty years ago this weekend, in his the State of the Union address,
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty. He introduced
Federal legislation, even proposed State initiatives that would over
time improve health, education, nutrition, and access to housing,
employment, and economic opportunity.
Although America has changed a great deal since that day, poverty and
economic inequality are still at the forefront of our Nation's
problems. They are only exacerbated by the Great Recession. The gap
between the rich and poor in America has become a chasm. Today, 20
percent of the income in our country goes to the top 1 percent of
Americans, and the top 1 percent holds about 40 percent of the
country's wealth. This inequality is mirrored in our communities, our
housing and rental markets, and our financial system, where a lack of
access to banking services often causes working families to have debts
that spiral out of control.
Mr. Speaker, inequality in this country has reached a point that for
many, the American Dream of upward mobility and unlimited economic
opportunity has been greatly diminished.
The 2008 financial crisis cost our economy $12 trillion, as millions
lost their homes and jobs. This destruction of wealth
disproportionately hurt our Nation's most vulnerable and only widened
the gap between the rich and the poor. Even the gains from growth
during the recent recovery have overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest
people in society.
Almost 95 percent of the income gains since the recovery began have
been captured by the top 1 percent. Meanwhile, the minimum wage has not
been increased since 2009. Mr. Speaker, this is totally unacceptable.
Chronic unemployment and poverty still plague many of our communities.
American families are still struggling to make ends meet. Four million
Americans have been out of work for 27 weeks or
[[Page H121]]
more, and the economy still has 1 million fewer jobs than before the
Great Recession began.
{time} 1800
Those there are other factors at play. Much of this inequality is a
result of some of the government policies that we make, and government
policy can help reverse these alarming trends.
But instead, our friends on the opposite side of the aisle are
digging us deeper and deeper into this crisis. They passed the farm
bill that cuts SNAP nutrition program for low-income families by $40
billion, and then the Republicans let unemployment insurance for the
long-term unemployment expire 3 days after Christmas.
Already, 1.3 million unemployed Americans have lost their Federal
unemployment insurance. That includes 20,000 military veterans. Each
day this program sits expired, thousands of additional struggling
Americans are adversely affected.
As State benefits are exhausted in the first 6 months of 2014, an
additional 1.9 million Americans will lose their unemployment
insurance. In fact, every week another 72,000 job-seekers will lose
their benefits during the first half of this year.
Mr. Speaker, unemployment insurance is critical to struggling
families. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
unemployment insurance kept 2.5 million people above the poverty line
in 2012, including 600,000 children.
Unemployment insurance is good for the economy. According to Moody's
Analytics, every dollar of unemployment insurance generates $1.55 in
new economic activity in the first year. The bipartisan Congressional
Budget Office estimates that 200,000 jobs could be lost in our economy
if unemployment insurance is not extended.
We must act and act immediately to extend unemployment insurance. So
I call on my Republican colleagues to bring the Emergency Unemployment
Compensation Extension Act, that is H.R. 3824, to the House floor and
pass it now.
With one in five American children living in poverty, it is clear
that the war on poverty has gone on for far too long. Let's take action
now to have all Americans share in our Nation's growth and prosperity.
Let's bring an unemployment extension bill to the floor, and let's
bring it now. Let's bring a substantive jobs bill to the floor now, and
let's bring a minimum wage increase to the floor now. American families
have suffered enough. It is time to restore the American Dream.
As I wrap up, let me just say this on behalf of the American people.
I hear these arguments every day from the opposite side of the aisle
saying if you can continue to extend these unemployment benefits, you
are simply going to undermine the will for people to go to work. What
you are going to do is make them comfortable on these unemployment
benefits, and they won't go look for a job.
Well, I want to tell you I have not talked to everyone whose on
unemployment or who needs extended benefits; but I can tell you this,
American folks want jobs, they want to work, they want to earn a decent
living, they want to earn wages to take care of their families and
their children. Their aspirations and their goals are the same as yours
and mine. They want what America has promised.
I would say to those who would continue this argument, don't
disrespect the American people that way. Don't undermine the American
people that way. Do what you know is right, what makes good sense, and
let us help out those who are the most vulnerable, who need us now at
this time so that they can continue to look for jobs, so that they
continue to aspire to have the American Dream, and I thank you very
much.
Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Waters. Your efforts
over the years have been so appreciated by so many, and I hope the
House Republican leadership will listen to your pleas and bring this to
a vote.
It is now my honor to introduce one of my fellow freshmen who has
rapidly been recognized not only for his hard work and effort, but for
his skills, and his work on behalf so many across this country. I would
like to yield some time to my colleague Representative Jeffries.
Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin, the
Badger State, for his continued leadership, and each and every week
when we are in session coming to the floor of the House of
Representatives and articulating the progressive message for all to
hear and for the good of the country. I appreciate you yielding some
time during this Congressional Progressive Caucus Special Order.
This month we marked the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the
war on poverty. We know that on January 8, 1964, President Lyndon
Baines Johnson came to this very Chamber, spoke to a joint session of
Congress, and laid out a series of initiatives designed to combat
chronic poverty in this country.
As a result of this effort, there were many legislative battles that
were won: in the march toward the creation of a Great Society,
Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, school breakfast program, the Food
Stamp Act, minimum wage enhancement, Job Corps, college work study.
These were programs all part of that Great Society era enacted between
1964 and 1966; and taken together with other war on poverty
initiatives, they managed to rescue millions and millions of Americans
from their impoverished condition and set them on a pathway toward the
middle class.
Over the years, we have attempted to continue that war on poverty
with great success such that the situation in America now is better
than it was in 1964; yet we know that the war continues. Instead, it
seems like as opposed to waging a war on poverty here in this Chamber,
many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have decided to
embark on a war against the poor, a war against middle class families
and senior citizens, those who are striving to realize the full
potential of the American Dream. And that's why we are also so troubled
by the failure to extend long-term unemployment benefits.
Now, I arrived in this Chamber feeling as if I was prepared for the
experience, given the professional and educational legislative
experiences that I had had in advance of January 3, 2013. And it has
been my honor and my privilege to work with such a tremendous class of
freshmen.
I have been troubled over the last year by the fact that I appeared
deficient in one area, and that is in my failure to have any meaningful
experience in the art of hostage negotiation. But from the very
beginning that I set forth in this Chamber, it seemed as if those
skills were necessary in this climate.
In January of 2013, we had to wait more than 75 days before this
House would pass a Superstorm Sandy relief package, unprecedented in
the history of this Congress' response to a natural disaster because
there were some who put forth a ransom note, demanding offsets, even
though never had that happened in the history of the Republic.
Then several months later, in the run-up to October 1, you had an
Affordable Care Act law passed by this Congress in 2010, signed by the
President, declared constitutional by the Supreme Court in an opinion
parenthetically written by Chief Justice John Roberts, and then
reaffirmed with the overwhelming electoral college election of the
President in 2012. Notwithstanding any of that, you had folks demanding
an exchange for keeping the government open: that we either delay,
destroy, or defund the Affordable Care Act. Again, a ransom note
exercise.
Here we are, 1 year removed from my inaugural experience around the
Superstorm Sandy debacle back again facing an almost unprecedented
situation where the majority has said, in exchange for us renewing
long-term unemployment benefits for Americans that reasonable people
should conclude are in need, not only do we want a pay-for, almost
unprecedented, the last 17 times that this has been extended, but we
have got a whole list of ransom demands that we want enacted in order
for us to rescue these Americans who are in distress.
I am just hopeful, Mr. Speaker, that we can get together subsequent
to the United States Senate which has signaled and indicated its
willingness to move forward, see to it that it shouldn't be the case
that in exchange for taking a positive step forward in this
institution, we always have to take two steps backward.
[[Page H122]]
The positive step would simply be to renew the provision of
unemployment benefits for the long term, individuals who have been
working hard to find a job, and then coming together to figure out
collectively how we can all move forward in the best interest of this
country and our economy. I am hopeful that that will take place in the
next day or week, certainly within the month, and we will continue to
press forward in that regard.
With that, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his continued
leadership.
Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Representative Jeffries, and thank you for
articulating, I guess, what I have been feeling also for the last year,
my lack of hostage-taking skills. I certainly learned some in the last
12 months serving in this body.
It is now my pleasure to yield some time to my colleague from
California, Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, who is the first
Mexican American woman to be elected to Congress. She cofounded the
bipartisan Congressional Study Committee on Public Health. She became
the first woman to chair the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and serves
as the chairwoman of their health care task force.
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to
commend Congressman Pocan for his leadership and his hard work on this
very, very important issue.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 1.4 million Americans who lost
their emergency unemployment insurance during the holiday season and
the millions of Americans who stand to lose their benefits in 2014 if
Congress fails to extend unemployment insurance.
It is an insult to the American worker to oppose the extension of
these benefits on the premise that emergency unemployment insurance
provides a disincentive to work and that it makes unemployed Americans
content to live off of the taxpayer-supported benefits.
The reality is, Mr. Speaker, that Americans have a strong work ethic
and are the best and most productive in the world. And the reality is
that in spite of their efforts to find employment. There are still 1.3
million fewer jobs today than there were when many of these Americans
lost their jobs due to our country's economic downturn. It is
unconscionable to punish those who lost their job through no fault of
their own and continue to actively seek work.
With nearly three job-seekers for every available position, American
workers are unemployed not because they are not motivated to work, but
because there are simply not enough jobs for everyone who needs one.
This problem is magnified in my home State of California where there
are 400,000 fewer jobs available today than there were 6 years ago.
Unemployment benefits average $300 per week and replace less than 50
percent of prior earnings. Yet these benefits can make the difference
between homelessness and hunger. They are often the only means of
keeping a roof over one's head and putting food on the family table.
For example, in 2012, unemployment benefits kept an estimated 2.5
million Americans, including 600,000 children, out of poverty.
It is also worth noting that unemployment benefits do more than
provide a critical lifeline for out-of-work Americans. It is estimated
that each dollar of unemployment insurance generates $1.50 in new
economic activity. This means our economy is losing $400 million every
week Congress refuses to extend these benefits.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also estimates that the
economy will lose 200,000 jobs if emergency unemployment insurance is
not extended.
Unemployment insurance is a moral imperative that will also keep our
economic recovery moving in the right direction.
Mr. Speaker, we are a country of hardworking Americans. We must not
turn our backs on those who need this critical Federal assistance as
they struggle to find work.
{time} 1815
I strongly urge Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor to schedule floor
action on extending emergency unemployment insurance benefits without
delay.
Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much.
It is so important to note that 37 percent of the people who receive
these benefits have been searching for a job over 6 months, the very
people who are going to be affected, 72,000 a week if this House
doesn't act.
I now yield to another colleague, someone who has been a stalwart
member of the Progressive Caucus, is the senior whip for the Democratic
Caucus, and she is currently a member of the Judiciary Committee and
the Homeland Security Committee and a strong advocate for people who
are trying to lift themselves out of poverty and find opportunity in
America.
It is my pleasure to yield to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kind
leadership, because it is kind leadership, and I am very privileged to
be very proudly a member of the Progressive Caucus, serving as the vice
chair liaison on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus to the
Progressive Caucus and a member of the Executive Committee and have
watched this caucus take on hard issues. First, of course, issues that
dealt with the idea of minimum wage and the underpayment, if you will,
of Federal contractors paying Federal employees who are contracted to
them.
We have understood the distinction of the 99ers versus the 1 percent
and waged a strong battle to make sure that the 99 percent were heard.
So today, I want to join the gentleman and say that time is running
out. Just this week, as I indicated earlier today and the day before,
those whose benefits were cut off on the 28th are receiving those
notices or are receiving empty mailboxes just in time for the end of
the month and the beginning of the monthly bills. Whether it is one's
mortgage or rent, whether it is the utilities that one has to pay,
whether it is care of one's elderly parent or children, I can assure
you that the 1.3 million, 4,000 per week, 12,000 in Harris County,
66,000 in the State of Texas, are now confronting some very difficult
times.
Now, I think it should be known that when we say the term
``progressive,'' it is also a term that celebrates the greatness of
America, its diversity, its opportunity and prosperity. I have not
heard one of our members of the caucus in any way challenge prosperity,
victory, or success. In fact, I am going to share with my colleagues
what the Houston Chronicle put on the front page: ``Sales of million-
dollar homes snowball here.''
That gives a false image of America, congratulating those citizens
and families who are able because of the greatness of this Nation,
because of the hard work of themselves and so many who contribute to
the economy, because of the hard work of those who are now chronically
unemployed or unemployed who contributed to society and want to
contribute to society, they are able to be prosperous. It is good news
for the real estate industry and my friends who are in that industry
and good news for small businesses, but that clouds the issue and it
allows people to falsely represent that all is well.
The chronically unemployed number in the United States is higher than
it has ever been. It is 2.6 percent, juxtaposed against a 7 percent
unemployment rate. It varies across America.
So I want to join the gentleman with a very loud, clarion voice,
hopefully a voice of clarity, that you can have prosperity. We are a
capitalistic society. There is good news in Houston. But at the same
time, when I held an outreach press conference on December 31, fearing
the worst, that there was a full house of people looking for work,
people telling their stories of how long they looked for work, and the
sadness of not being able to find work, and the faith community joining
in and the social network community indicating they don't know how long
they are going to last with this added number of individuals. Food
banks, emergency food stamps and others, they didn't know how long they
were going to last.
It is imperative that we have, within these hours, movement by the
other body, which we congratulate for making the first step. But I
would like to say this should be an emergency, an emergency vote for a
3-month extension and then the opportunity to go forward on a more
deliberative analysis of how we can fund the rest of the time.
[[Page H123]]
So I would hope--we voted today. Democrats voted to extend the
unemployment. I hope that the Progressive Caucus' voice will be heard.
I thank the gentleman because I want the 1.3 million and growing number
to be able to have the same dignity as those who can celebrate the
purchase of a million-dollar home, which we don't in any way challenge,
but we realize that there are people who simply want to be able to make
that rental payment or mortgage payment. They can do it. Although they
are making ends meet, they can do it if we recognize the importance of
giving them that transitional bridge. Pass the unemployment insurance
benefit now.
Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Jackson Lee. I think you
clearly explained the dilemma we have.
While the economy is slowly bouncing back--and this President has
brought us from a 9.8 percent unemployment rate he inherited down to 7
percent--and jobs are slowly being created, we still are noticing that
there are still people being left behind. We have to recognize that as
well.
I believe Secretary Robert Reich wrote a piece that appeared today
that explained that so well. Unfortunately, due to income inequality,
the gap of the percentage of people who are poor, are working but still
are not earning enough, we need to talk about that as well.
I now yield to another one of my colleagues, one of my freshman
colleagues who in fact has been elected by our Democratic class as the
freshman class president. He serves on the House Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform where he is the ranking member on the
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs,
and is also on the Committee on Natural Resources. It is my honor to
yield to Representative Matt Cartwright from Pennsylvania.
Mr. CARTWRIGHT. I thank my valued and trusted colleague from
Wisconsin for granting me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise as a Congressman from Pennsylvania, in fact, a
Congressman from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Secretary
Robert Reich, I might add, someone we are very proud of. And I am very
proud myself to be a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus,
and I rise here to speak in support of a reasonable extension for UI
benefits with no strings attached.
I say ``no strings attached'' because every time we have extended
long-term UI benefits, we have done so with no strings attached, no
political wrangling, no arm wrestling. ``No strings attached'' means no
conditions whatsoever. It is the right thing to do because you have to
do it in a situation like this. In fact, five times during the George
W. Bush administration, this Nation extended UI benefits on an
emergency basis with no strings attached, and I see no reason why we
have to depart from this American precedent today.
I understand, Mr. Speaker, the importance of fiscal responsibility.
It is not like there is only one party that understands fiscal
responsibility. We get that on this side of the aisle, and we get that
in the Congressional Progressive Caucus as well. But the question is of
timing. We want to balance the budget. We want to pay down the national
debt. We get why those things are important, and we know that UI
benefits can't last forever.
But the fact of the matter is it is an emergency now. As our dear
friend, the gentlelady from Texas just styled it, it is an emergency
now. The reason it is an emergency is the vast number of American
citizens who are long-term unemployed. Mr. Speaker, 1.3 million on
December 28 got cut off. In my own district in northeastern
Pennsylvania, over 6,000 families got cut off on December 28, 3 days
after Christmas.
The fact of the matter is this is not American tradition. Since 1959,
we have never ended long-term UI benefits at a time when so many
Americans are long-term unemployed. The gentlelady from Houston just
mentioned it is 2.6 percent long-term unemployed in this country right
now. Every other time we have cut off long-term UI benefits, it has
been at a time when the people who are long-term unemployed are way
less of a percentage. I think the previous highest percentage was 1.3
percent, in other words, half the percentage that we have now. Now is
not the right time to cut off people from long-term UI benefits.
Mr. Speaker, these are real people we are talking about. Before my
voice entirely gives out, I want to read to you a letter I got from a
lady named Carol Blankenhorn from Schuylkill Haven in Schuylkill
County, Pennsylvania, which I proudly represent. Carol writes:
I am writing because I am a single unemployed mother that
does not get any child support and have been supporting
myself and my son up until my territory at my job was
dissolved. I have been very diligent in my job search, but to
no avail. I believed that at least I had 26 weeks of standard
benefits, but the emergency extension is so crucial to me and
others because of the poor economy and the lack of jobs. I
have now received a notice of exhaustion for benefits in 3
weeks, and I am devastated. I am not one of those people that
are sitting back collecting. I couldn't live with myself. But
now as I sit and look at my son 1 week before Christmas, I am
beside myself and have no idea how I am to survive. I am
urging you to please extend and renew emergency Federal
extended unemployment benefits. In closing, I would ask you
to please respond to me of your views and intentions on this
very important issue.
That was Carol Blankenhorn, a real person from Schuylkill Haven,
Pennsylvania. These are real people we are talking about. Leaving aside
the damage to the economy of stopping UI benefits at this point,
leaving aside all of the economic realities that favor extending UI
benefits, remember above all, we are talking about real people and real
families; and that alone, in the dead of winter, is a great argument
not to cut people off UI benefits at a time when it is next to
impossible to find another job.
I thank the gentleman.
Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Cartwright, for not only
your long-time advocacy on behalf of so many people, but for sharing
the personal stories, because I think that is what matters the most.
Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rothfus). The gentleman has 7 minutes
remaining.
Mr. POCAN. I have all sorts of stories that I would read but I don't
have time to from construction workers who are out of work and need
these benefits, from machinists who are out of work, a surgical nurse
in Baraboo, Wisconsin. There are so many people who need these
benefits, and the very stories that Representative Cartwright shared, I
just have pages of these stories of people across the country who need
these benefits to continue to get by while they are looking for work.
They are not lazy. They are not sitting back. They want to work. And in
this economy, they are doing everything they can to try to, but the
economy is not ready for some of these people and we have to do
everything we can.
I do want to read one story. I had an opportunity this afternoon to
meet with a constituent from Reedsburg, Wisconsin. She was recently the
winner of Half in Ten's Our American Story: 50th Anniversary of the War
on Poverty Storytelling Contest. Her name is Amy Treptow. She was here
with her daughter, Anna. She has benefited from programs that we have
put together for people who are lower income. I will read her words:
I have always worked hard and played by the rules, but I
was still living on the brink of poverty. My story is the
story of millions in today's economy in which there aren't
enough jobs and/or adequate training for the ones that are
available. The basic need for more good jobs and training
programs seems to be overlooked in today's conversation about
poverty.
I am a veteran and a divorced mother with two children. I
went to school to become an elementary schoolteacher but
wasn't able to find full-time employment, so I enrolled in a
skills enhancement program at my local community action
agency in Wisconsin. The program assists low-income adults
that are working a minimum of 20 hours per week to gain job
skills in order to be able to have a job that pays a living
wage with health benefits.
{time} 1830
I was working as a contract teacher making $15,184 a year,
which is far below the poverty line for a family of three.
Once I enrolled in the program, I started to take coursework
to get certified as a reading specialist. The program helped
me with the tuition and other school expenses and provided me
with case management services. I was also living in section 8
housing and received housing counseling, as well as
participating in the agency's Family Self-Sufficiency
Program. I am now a full-time employee with benefits as a
reading specialist instructor
[[Page H124]]
helping low-income children, along with two other jobs, and I
now own my own home.
And she goes on.
By providing these safety nets, the very safety nets that we
celebrated yesterday on the 50-year anniversary of the war on poverty,
we have helped someone like Amy and her family lift themselves out of
poverty, but we have to do that right now in helping others.
I would like to, at this point, yield some time to my colleague from
Illinois, someone who has been a mentor to me my entire career in the
legislature, and so glad to serve with her now in Congress, a very
staunch Progressive, Representative Jan Schakowsky from the State of
Illinois.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded not to traffic the well
while another Member is under recognition.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. If that referred to me, I apologize.
Thank you very much for organizing this hour for the Progressive
Caucus.
Mr. Speaker, we are talking about human issues that really don't lend
themselves to any kind of political label. We are talking about people.
And I think this is what has hurt me so much is the meanness, the
meanness.
I just celebrated my 15th year here in the House of Representatives,
and I have to tell you that we have disagreed across the aisle on a lot
of different things, but the demonization of people who are struggling
just to live a decent life. We are talking about people when we talk
about the unemployed who aren't looking for the huge fancy job. They
want to make enough to be able to raise their children comfortably, to
be able to eat, put a roof over their head, just modest things that add
up to a decent life.
Aside from all the arguments on why it is really dumb economically to
not extend those unemployment benefits, that it will actually cost us
jobs, 250,000--I don't know what the estimate is--if we don't put money
in people's pockets that they can go out and spend, why would things
that used to have a bipartisan consensus not prevail today?
In 1959, 1962, 1973, 1977, 1985, 1994, and 2003, we extended
unemployment insurance benefits until the level of long-term
unemployment--those are people unemployed over 6 months--fell below 1.5
percent. Today that is 2.6 percent of Americans. That is over 1 million
Americans.
What are we doing? Who are we? That is what I asked myself around the
holidays. We had a lot of cold weather and snow--typical Chicago in
some ways--and people are celebrating and still going out and shopping
and Christmas lights and Christmas trees. I was picturing--I know some
of those families for whom this was so bleak and so unnecessary--that
we could have, in 5 minutes before we left here, just extended those
unemployment insurance benefits.
And you've got that sign there that says: Each week that we fail to
act, 72,000 more people--that is a pretty hefty small town of people--
will lose their benefits, people who only are qualified for those
benefits if they are seeking work, three people searching for every job
that is available in this country.
You talked to people who have experienced this ultimate sense of
insecurity: What is going to happen to me and my family? What I hear at
the end of that story when I talk to people is: I don't know what I am
going to do. I don't know what I am going to do.
For many people, the fear of homelessness is just right outside their
door right now. I don't get it.
We celebrated the--and I mean celebrated--the 50th anniversary of the
announcement of the war on poverty and all the things that we did and
that were supported for many years.
Thank you.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
____________________