[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20647]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 619, S. 3009, a 
bill to provide for a 13-week extension of unemployment compensation; 
that the bill be read the third time, passed, and motion to reconsider 
be laid upon the table, without intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, may I ask the sponsor of the bill, 
doesn't this, in effect, provide for a 26-week extension of Federal 
unemployment compensation instead of 13 weeks?
  Mr. KENNEDY. The Senator is correct, for certain States that qualify. 
This is similar to what we did in the early 1990s. The Senator is quite 
correct.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I think I have the floor. I propounded a 
unanimous-consent request for the immediate consideration of the 
measure.
  Mr. NICKLES. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is objection.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I regret, for the reasons I will outline 
just shortly, that we continue to have opposition of the Republican 
leadership to extending the unemployment compensation program that can 
make all the difference in the world for families who are running 
through their current unemployment compensation and have to meet their 
mortgage payments, have to pay for the food on their tables, have to 
support their children in schools. People are hurting. I can give a 
more detailed description of what is happening in the country, but I 
regret we continuously have an objection by our colleagues on the other 
side.
  We know going back to the early 1990s, former President Bush objected 
to the extension of unemployment compensation and then, finally, saw 
the wisdom of it and indicated he would support the extension of 
unemployment compensation. We had a series of votes with more than 90 
Members voting in favor of the extension of unemployment compensation 
for the very sound reason that these workers have paid in to the fund. 
The fund is in surplus, it now has some $27 billion. The Senator is 
quite correct that it would cost approximately $17 billion should this 
program go into effect now to assist those who have paid in to the 
program.
  The point of unemployment compensation is, unless you have paid in, 
you do not receive. So these are funds that have already been paid by 
workers with the purpose in mind that if the economic conditions are 
such as at present, that if there is a temporary period where they 
cannot find jobs, this would help those families during those valleys. 
That was always the thought behind unemployment compensation. The fund 
is in surplus, and still there is an objection to the extension. It 
will make an enormous difference to close to 2 million families in this 
country by the end of the year and 3 million by the early part of 
February.
  There was one comment my friend from Oklahoma stressed, and that is: 
Where are the appropriations bills? Congress has not done its work; we 
have only considered 2 out of the 13 appropriations bills. The last 
time I read the Constitution, the appropriations bills originated in 
the House of Representatives, and that happens to be under Republican 
leadership. Do you understand? That is under Republican leadership. So 
when the good Senator said Congress is at fault, we know where the 
fault lies in terms of the appropriations bills which he mentioned.

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