[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 12, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, first, I wish to thank my colleague Senator 
Whitehouse for yielding me 2 minutes.
  We are leaving here with major unfinished business. We have not 
extended unemployment benefits for 1.8 million Americans. They are 
getting to be increasingly desperate. They need this assistance as they 
continue to look for work in a very difficult time.
  I think it is interesting, if not ironic, that the pay-for mechanism 
that was instead used to pay for the appropriate adjustment of the 
military retirees' COLA was the same pay-for mechanism we had proposed 
to use to extend these benefits for up to several months, almost 1 
year. Yet many of my colleagues on the other side rejected that, saying 
that was inappropriate.
  We have to come back. We will come back. We have to deal with 
unemployment insurance. We have to find a way, both sides, to come 
together and find a way to provide modest assistance for these 
Americans who are struggling to find work in a market where there are 
up to three applicants for every job.
  With that, I thank the Senator from Rhode Island, and I yield the 
floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator 
Boozman precede me in recognition on the floor for such time as he may 
consume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Arkansas.

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