[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7894]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            JOBS IN AMERICA

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, congratulations to the Bush administration 
on yet another record: 354,000 people exhausted their unemployment 
benefits in March, the largest number since we started keeping 
statistics in 1971; and yet they cannot find work.
  We have 1.5 million people since the program ended in December, and 
the President and the Republican leadership have refused to renew the 
program. There are 23,000 Oregonians, people who want and cannot find 
work. They are the long-term army of the unemployed in America due to 
outsourcing and misplaced budget priorities.
  But the administration will not extend unemployment benefits to them 
because then they would have to admit that the rosy glow they want to 
paint upon the economy and job prospects actually is a sunset.
  So are they worried about creating deficits? No. There are $17 
billion in the Unemployment Trust Fund. Why do they not care about this 
army of unemployed Americans? Why will they not help them find work, 
and while they are still looking for work, help them keep their 
families together and keep their homes with extended unemployment 
benefits out of the trust fund balance that is sitting unspent?

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