[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 349-350]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, the American people are facing 
difficult economic times. The unemployment rate is at a 9-year high, 
and a growing number of both skilled and unskilled American workers are 
left without jobs and without a way to provide for themselves and their 
families.
  I am so pleased that we finally passed S. 23 on Tuesday, which 
provides a 5-month extension of the Temporary Extended Unemployment 
Compensation Act of 2002, and that the House passed it also. I believe 
that it was critical for the Congress to address the issue or expiring 
unemployment insurance benefits on the very first day of the 108th 
Congress. Actually, if we had had it our way, my Democratic colleagues 
and I would have delivered this aid to unemployed workers last year 
before 780,000 workers had their benefits cut off. At the end of the 
last Congress, Democrats asked for unanimous consent eight times to 
pass a bill that would provide benefits for workers who were cut off 
from their benefits on December 28, for workers who had not yet 
received the extension, and for workers who had run out of their State 
and Federal benefits and had not yet found a new job. But each time 
Republicans objected to this proposal. An agreement was finally reached 
between Senate Democrats and Republicans in December, but the Senate 
agreement was rejected by House Republicans.
  S. 23 will help millions of Americans, 91,000 in Massachusetts alone, 
but there is one deserving group that it won't help, the more than 1 
million unemployed workers who have already exhausted their State and 
Federal unemployment benefits. On Tuesday, Senator Reed asked that the 
Senate not adjourn until it address the issue of unemployment insurance 
benefits for workers who have already exhausted their benefits. 
Unfortunately, I was not present for Tuesday's vote because I was 
detained at a doctor's appointment, but had I been present I would have 
voted in favor of continuing the debate until we addressed the needs of 
the long-term unemployed.
  Over 2 million people's benefits have expired since the passage of 
the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Program in March 2001. 
Of those 2 million, 1 million are still working hard to find jobs. 
There are 1.5 million fewer jobs today than there were in March 2001 
and the economy remains weak. I have heard from so many of my 
constituents about how difficult it is to find jobs in this economic 
climate. Twenty percent of America's unemployed have been without work 
for more than 26 weeks, and the percentage is still growing. We must 
not leave the long-term unemployed and their families with no where to 
turn.
  We have taken an important first step to help unemployed workers. But 
we have not done nearly enough. And I will continue to urge my 
colleagues to take action to help the long-term unemployed.

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