[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  (Ms. BONAMICI asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Speaker, it has been more than 3 weeks since 
Congress left for a December recess, leaving far too many Americans, 
including thousands of Oregonians, without access to emergency 
unemployment benefits.
  That is a long time for our constituents who are trying to pay their 
rent, purchase groceries, care for their families, and fill their cars 
with gas so they can get to job interviews. Now we are planning to 
leave town again tomorrow for 10 days without addressing this urgent 
need.
  My constituents are contacting me, pleading with Congress to 
understand the challenges they face in this recovering economy. I heard 
from a college graduate. She previously owned her own business but lost 
her job in May. Since then, she has been retraining to get the skills 
she will need. She is ready and willing to work in a new industry. 
Unemployment benefits, which she is now without, were helping. She is 
one of too many.
  Madam Speaker, we must extend emergency unemployment benefits, and we 
need to do it now. Our constituents can't wait any longer.

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