[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PASS UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to say that we are, in fact, our 
brothers' and sisters' keeper, and I want to debunk the terrible 
definition and description of some 1.3--now 1.9--million unemployed 
Americans.
  I reject the theory that they only sit around for unemployment and 
will not look for a job unless they are not getting unemployment 
insurance when everybody knows that the requirements of emergency 
unemployment insurance require individuals to look for work. For 
everyone I have spoken to, including learning the story of a woman in 
New York who is 58 years old and who has looked for work over and over 
and, likewise, is desperate and devastated because she is not able to 
provide the bare minimum, I have introduced H.R. 3888.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in legislation that will target and 
train the chronically unemployed, that will provide their unemployment 
insurance and that will give them a stipend for emerging industry 
training. I say to my Republican colleagues: if you are interested in 
jobs, jobs, jobs, join this legislation; but right now, today, let's 
stay here and vote on unemployment insurance for the millions of 
Americans who have contributed and shed their blood--many of them 
veterans, many of them willing to sacrifice. All they need is a helping 
hand. Pass unemployment insurance.
  Where is our heart?

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