[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H234-H235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, we so often use the word 
``unemployment'' that we lose an understanding of its deep social 
impact. When a person who is really trying very hard, cannot find good 
work, it causes much duress, not only to that person and to their 
family, but to society as a whole. Work is dignity. Good work unleashes 
the creative potential of the person. Unemployment or underemployment 
so often creates a spiraling effect on a person's well-being.
  Part of our job as policymakers is to create and support the 
conditions for dynamic economic opportunity. Yet Washington continues 
to deal with the unemployment problem through political sound bites and 
simplistic solutions. These are not getting to the heart of the 
problem.
  Across the country, many small businesses are not creating jobs. Part 
of the reason is the government itself. The burden of the health care 
law, for instance, and other regulations have dampened entrepreneurial 
spirit and created a great deal of uncertainty in the economy. This 
serious problem cannot simply be fixed by an extension of unemployment 
benefits.
  If we want to be further forthright and honest about it, this problem 
is deeper than governmental solutions and business structure alone. It 
is a fracturing of our society. Many people have been left abandoned 
and have not had the gift of a formative community around them. They 
are alone. Mr. Speaker, all persons are made for community; and if 
someone is cast out into

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the world and loses the little bit of security they have, well, the 
best we can do is say good-bye, good luck; here is a little check to 
tide you over; hope it gets better. No, Mr. Speaker, the deeper problem 
is a social problem, the fragmentation of our culture.
  Mr. Speaker, I also realize that in many places in America there are 
not the same economic conditions as where I live in Nebraska. We have 
abundant natural resources, a long tradition of stewardship of the 
land, and a strong agricultural and manufacturing economy. My State has 
also been very fiscally prudent, and that is the same way businesses 
are run and the same way families run their households.
  This has contributed to vibrant economic conditions. In Lincoln, for 
instance, one company has more than 150 job openings. In Columbus, the 
manufacturing capital of Nebraska, the community has gone so far as to 
go to Michigan to try to find families with technical skills so they 
can move to our State.
  Mr. Speaker, part of our policy deliberations here should be to try 
to understand this disconnect between persons who are trying, and have 
a real need for work, and the opportunities that are out there--yes, to 
demand accountability and responsibility, but also to forthrightly 
attack this problem of isolation in our culture. If we don't, we can 
just plod along and perhaps slowly get better as a country in the 
aggregate sense of the word, but much damage will be done to unrealized 
dreams and the potential of persons to find meaning with the creative 
gifts that they have been given.
  Mr. Speaker, I will just end with this. In all fairness, I think we 
must do better. We must do better here. We must do better as a country 
than just emotional, political rhetoric, and find constructive 
solutions that are fair for all.

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