[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25106-25110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise again to urge my colleagues, 
particularly my colleagues on the Republican side, to put aside their 
amendments so we can move immediately and pass an extension of 
unemployment insurance benefits.
  We are facing a crisis of employment throughout this country. We are 
seeing people who are exhausting their benefits. The need is now. The 
time is now. We must act now.
  Hundreds of thousands of Americans have already exhausted their 
unemployment benefits, including 3,500 Rhode Islanders. Unfortunately, 
this number is growing every day. These people are out of work, without 
an employment check or paycheck, with jobs remaining scarce.
  It is important to recognize how we got here. A $236 billion Federal 
surplus accumulated in the 1990s under President Clinton and handed to 
President Bush evaporated in 2000 due to President Bush's unsound and 
excessive tax cuts which cost nearly $1.8 trillion and failed to spur 
sustainable economic expansion and were targeted to the richest 
Americans, not middle-income Americans. Indeed, most working Americans 
actually ended up less well off as the median income for families fell 
by $2,000 from the year 2000 to the year 2007. Let me say that again. 
In the period of the Bush administration, with the huge tax cuts which 
he proposed as being the key to our economic recovery and our economic 
progress, incomes of middle-income Americans fell, they didn't rise. 
Incomes of the very richest Americans rose dramatically and continue to 
rise.
  In addition, the Bush administration praised the doctrine of 
inadequate supervision of our financial markets, a lack of adequate 
risk assessment by financial institutions throughout not only the 
United States but the world, and they combined that laissez-faire 
attitude toward regulation of Wall Street with very costly and unfunded 
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result of these profligate policies, 
President Obama inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit upon taking office. 
This is on top of an unprecedented set of circumstances facing our 
Nation both at home and abroad--the virtual collapse of the financial 
markets in September, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With 
regard to Afghanistan, the same inattention the Bush administration 
showed toward regulation they showed toward our efforts in Afghanistan, 
and today we face a crisis of the first order there.
  Today, we are in a serious situation. Through decisive action, which 
I will credit began under President Bush last September but 
particularly carried out through the stimulus package, we are 
responding to this economic crisis. But economists of all persuasions 
tell us we are in a very difficult and challenging moment. Unlike the 
1980s and prior economic downturns, they do not expect a traditional V-
shaped recovery--a quick decline and then a fairly rapid ascent to 
normal economic performances. In fact, economists are predicting that 
job gains will not be manifest until next year. It always seems to be 
the situation that employment numbers lag behind other indicators, 
including economic growth and availability of credit, and this lag is 
particularly challenging today because it

[[Page 25107]]

means people are out of work and unfortunately may stay out of work 
into next summer and beyond.
  There have been some signs of recovery. The last time the Dow hit 
10,000 was October 2008, and we recently have seen it headed up in 
crossing 10,000. It is no longer in a meltdown, but we are far from a 
full, sustainable recovery.
  Wall Street is one indication, but it is not the indication most 
Americans look to in terms of their own family's welfare. The most 
important aspect of a family's welfare is steady, dependable, rewarding 
employment, and that is the challenge we face today. People are 
concerned about jobs. Many Rhode Islanders with jobs are coping with 
reductions in hours and earnings, while those without jobs are 
tirelessly looking for work in a labor market that is worsening, and 
jobs simply aren't there.
  We have a particularly dire situation in Rhode Island. There are 
74,000 unemployed in my State. That is a big number, but it is much 
bigger in terms of my State of Rhode Island. We are the smallest State 
in the Union. With a population between 900,000, and 1 million, 74,000 
unemployed people is a huge amount. It translates to 13 percent 
unemployment. If you look at the underemployed, if you look at those 
who have dropped out of the labor force, it is probably much higher. If 
you look at subcategories--teenagers, for example, much higher; 
minority communities, much higher. As a result, there is a growing 
frustration and too often a desperation gripping the people of Rhode 
Island.
  A key component of stabilizing the economy is ensuring that Americans 
without jobs can continue to support their families, and that is at the 
heart of our unemployment compensation program. This compromise 
legislation which I helped craft along with Leader Reid, Chairman 
Baucus, Senator Shaheen from New Hampshire, Senator Durbin, and others, 
strikes a careful balance. It is completely offset. It helps unemployed 
workers across the country by providing all States with an additional 
14 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits. It also continues the 
historical precedent and sound policy of recognizing that workers in 
the hardest hit States such as Rhode Island have even greater 
challenges finding work and are in the greatest need of assistance. 
Rhode Island and other States with unemployment rates at or above 8.5 
percent would get an additional 6 weeks of benefits, for a total of 20 
weeks. This provision will help more than 25 States, including South 
Carolina, Tennessee, and Michigan.
  Unfortunately, the other side of the aisle, instead of permitting us 
to take up the bill quickly, is blocking legislation to extend 
unemployment insurance.
  First they argued that they needed to see a CBO score, even though 
this legislation has been scored by CBO and, again, it is fully offset. 
It is quite obvious it is fully offset.
  Now my colleagues on the other side are delaying passage of this 
measure by offering a range of amendments that are not related to 
unemployment benefits. It is my understanding that the junior Senator 
from Nebraska is offering an amendment with respect to ACORN funding. 
This amendment not only has nothing to do with extending the benefits 
to jobless Americans, but it has already been considered on several 
occasions. In fact, I joined the Senator in passing his amendment to 
the Transportation appropriations bill just the other week.
  Another of our colleagues wants to extend the $8,000 new homeowner 
tax credit which costs an estimated $16.7 billion. This is a worthy 
effort, but in the context of trying to get aid immediately to 
unemployed workers, I don't think it is the best use of our time.
  It is counterintuitive to delay an extension of unemployment 
insurance with these types of amendments. Again, the homeowner tax 
credit is something I support. It is something we should do. It is 
something we should consider paying for also. But now is the time to 
deal with the most obvious crisis: people without work, running out of 
benefits, facing a desperate situation. They are falling behind in 
mortgage payments, accelerating another aspect of our problem--the 
crisis in foreclosures. They need this extension. Debating amendments 
that send messages but don't provide help for working Americans is not 
what we should be doing.
  I wish to underscore the urgency we are facing. People are exhausting 
their benefits. They are receiving nothing. They still have to provide 
for their families. In Rhode Island, 3,500 people would benefit 
immediately from a Federal extension, a majority of whom have already 
exhausted their benefits going back, in some cases, several months. 
Thousands more Rhode Islanders will see their benefits end unless we 
act. These families need this help to stay afloat, to pay their bills, 
to stay in their homes. It is truly ironic that the Republican Party is 
delaying an extension of unemployment insurance to the middle class, 
yet in the past they have had no problem supporting huge tax cuts 
skewed toward the wealthiest Americans.
  It is my hope we can work together. This is not a Rhode Island 
problem alone. It is not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem. 
I have been joined--and I wish to thank my colleague from South 
Carolina, Lindsey Graham, for working on this, because South Carolina 
is feeling the effects of this recession. Every part of this country, 
with very few exceptions, is feeling this problem. I again urge that we 
pass this measure.
  In addition, we should recognize that there is one other aspect we 
should consider; strengthening and expanding work-share programs, which 
allow employers to cut-back hours rather than lay people off if the 
employer maintains pension and health benefits. In turn, employees 
receive a proportionate unemployment insurance benefit for those hours 
reduced. It has been very effective in Rhode Island--averting nearly 
5,000 layoffs in the first eight months of this year.
  I urge immediate consideration of this extension, and I hope we can 
pass it this week.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I come to the floor for the third time 
in the last couple of weeks to urge passage of the Unemployment 
Compensation Extension Act. This will help the almost 2 million 
Americans who are in danger of losing their benefits. I am proud to 
join Senator Jack Reed, and I thank him for his leadership in trying to 
get this done and working out legislation that can be supported by 
hopefully most of the Members of this Senate. For nearly 2 weeks, we 
have been working to pass an extension to help struggling families 
across the country.
  The Senate bill we have introduced is a good bill, as Senator Reed 
has said. It extends unemployment benefits for up to 14 weeks in all 50 
States and by an additional 6 weeks in States with the highest 
unemployment rates. The extensions are targeted: only unemployed 
workers who have already exhausted their benefits are eligible. That 
means that almost all jobless workers who use this extension will have 
been out of work for a year or longer. That is a very long time.
  Unemployment insurance was created to provide workers with an income 
while they look for another job, but with unemployment almost 10 
percent nationally, it has gotten harder to find work, not easier. The 
number of long-term unemployed--those without a job for 27 weeks or 
more--rose to 5.4 million in September. In my home State of New 
Hampshire, the number of long-term unemployed has more than tripled in 
the past year. So now we have reached a perfect storm with 
unemployment. There are more than six people for every job opening, and 
nearly 2 million Americans are about to run out of all benefits, the 
benefits they need to pay the rent, to pay their mortgage, to buy food, 
to pay for gas, to continue to look for a job.
  The Presiding Officer and I both know that unemployment is spent on 
necessities and it is spent immediately. So when we extend benefits, we 
are not just helping the workers who have lost their jobs; we are 
helping small businesses that provide the goods and services unemployed 
workers need. In fact,

[[Page 25108]]

economists say that dollar for dollar, extending unemployment benefits 
is one of the most cost-effective actions we can take to stimulate the 
economy.
  So now, as this economy is trying to recover, as people are 
struggling to find work, it makes perfect sense that we would extend 
unemployment benefits for those people who need them. The American 
people are calling for the Senate to act, but some of our Members just 
aren't listening, and they have held up an extension for almost 2 
weeks. They don't seem to want to move forward under any circumstances. 
My office is getting calls every day from people in New Hampshire and 
across the country, and they want to know why the Senate isn't acting 
quickly to pass an extension. Unfortunately, some Senators seem to be 
holding up the process to win political points, to delay our entire 
legislative agenda. They are playing politics while 7,000 workers a day 
run out of benefits, the benefits they need to put food on the table, 
to pay their bills, to keep our economy going.
  This is not the time to play politics. This extension will help 
millions of Americans. It will help Americans in Democratic States, in 
Republican States, in Independent States, in purple States and red 
States and blue States.
  It is important for us to pass this extension to help those Americans 
to stimulate our economy by getting money back into the hands of people 
who will spend it immediately.
  I, again, urge all those Senators who have been standing in the way 
to stop playing politics and to pass this critical extension.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Hampshire for 
adding to the statement of the Senator from Rhode Island about this 
unemployment issue. As you can tell, this is a national concern. There 
was a time, I say to the Senator from New Hampshire, who is one of our 
newer Members, this was not even debated. Whether you were talking 
about minimum wage or unemployment compensation, it was a bipartisan 
issue. We basically knew, as the Senator said, the people hurting out 
there are not all Democrats, not all Republicans; they are all 
Americans and they are from all over this country.
  Unfortunately, we have now drifted into a status where even this has 
become a political issue. I say to my colleagues on the Republican side 
of the aisle who are blocking unemployment benefits for the millions of 
unemployed people in this country: Go out and meet some of these 
people.
  Last Friday, I went to Pilsen, which is a section in Chicago. I went 
to an office called the National Able Network, where they are trying to 
help the unemployed find a job. I sat at the table with about 12 
unemployed people around me. I wish my Republican colleagues would 
actually sit down and meet some of these people who are unemployed. 
They will learn something. These are not lazy people. These are not 
people who enjoy being unemployed. These are people who are now 
desperate--desperate people.
  Let me tell you about Ira. I will not use his last name. I met him. 
He is a 43-year-old African American. He worked at one of the biggest 
banks in Chicago up until 14 months ago. He was in charge of human 
relations. He said: My job was to place people in jobs. Now I am trying 
to place myself in a job. He is going to DePaul University to pick up a 
certification in his field in the hopes that will give him an edge to 
find a new job.
  Ira is a father with a family and his son suffers from a serious 
illness. Ira has no health insurance. He lost it when he lost his job.
  Corinne is another one. Corinne had been a vice president in a bank 
in downtown Chicago, which the Presiding Officer would know if I 
mentioned its name. She worked her way up, at age 61, to a good-paying 
job. She lost it when the bank went out of business and merged. She 
said: I look through all these classified ads and go on the Internet. 
There are not too many jobs for vice presidents at banks, and that is 
what I used to be. Now she says: I am willing to do whatever it takes. 
Corinne has no health insurance either.
  I went around the table and asked people what they were up against. 
They said, basically, if we stop unemployment payments, if Congress 
does not extend it, we will turn to our savings. One lady said: I don't 
have any savings; I have spent it all to keep my house so I don't go 
into foreclosure.
  That is the reality of this issue. So why are the Republicans 
stopping us from extending unemployment insurance benefits? Some of 
them oppose it. Some of them believe people who are unemployed are just 
plain lazy. They should sit down and talk with some of these folks. As 
the Senator from New Hampshire said, there are six unemployed people 
for every available job in America. This is not laziness. This is a 
reality of a recession which this President inherited.
  Some others want to try to refinance and reconfigure unemployment as 
we know it--the unemployment benefits that are collected from all 
working Americans, while we are working, for the rainy-day possibility 
that we will lose a job someday. There is money in this fund to pay 
these benefits.
  One of the Senators on the Republican side came to the floor last 
week and said: I wish to find a new way to refinance unemployment 
benefits. That is a great exercise and a great challenge. For goodness' 
sake, while you debate this issue, are you going to let hundreds of 
thousands of people wonder whether they will be able to keep food on 
the table? That is the reality.
  There is a third group, honest to goodness, that believes these folks 
do not deserve to receive this money, that it means they will not try 
hard to find a job. That is fundamentally unfair. If you believe in 
family, family values, and a safety net for America, unemployment 
insurance is absolutely critical and essential.
  Mr. President, 400,000 American families have run out of unemployment 
insurance benefits already, and the Republicans are stopping us from 
bringing up the bill to extend this safety net to unemployed Americans. 
There are 20,000 in my State of Illinois who lost their benefits a few 
days ago, at the end of September. There are another 200,000 families 
across the country who will lose their benefits this month because the 
Republicans continue to stop us from extending unemployment insurance 
benefits.
  What are they waiting for? Mr. President, 1.3 million Americans will 
lose their temporary assistance by the end of the year if the 
Republicans stop us from moving on this legislation, 50,000 families in 
Illinois, similar to the ones I met with last Friday.
  This money is essential for these families. It is essential for the 
economy. The money we put in an unemployment check is going to be spent 
by these people instantly. They are living paycheck to paycheck and, in 
this case, unemployment check to unemployment check.
  Never in the history of the country's unemployment insurance program 
have more workers been unemployed for such prolonged periods of time. 
That is why we are extending the benefits. Half of all jobless workers 
cannot find a job within the first 6 months they receive benefits. That 
is the highest percentage of prolonged unemployment in the history of 
the program.
  I can tell you what this comes down to. We are either going to stand 
up for these people who have been victims of this recession or we are 
going to watch more and more Americans show up at the bread lines, show 
up at the soup kitchens, show up at the homeless shelters. The New York 
Times had an article yesterday that said 1 out of 10 Americans in 
homeless shelters today is a victim of foreclosure. In the Midwest, it 
is one out of every six.
  We are pretty comfortable as Members of the Senate. Our life is not 
bad at all. We know our next paycheck is coming in. But what about 
these poor people? I say to the Republicans, it is time to wake up to 
reality. Don't talk about family values, rewarding work, and standing 
up for people when you believe in them and turn down these

[[Page 25109]]

unemployment benefits. It is time to pass these benefits now, and the 
Republicans had better step aside.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues who have come 
before the Senate on this critical issue, our ability to extend 
unemployment insurance, and to ask our Republican colleagues not to 
block our efforts and to allow us to bring up this bill and do it 
quickly to help the families who are suffering in every one of our 
States.
  This week we have an important opportunity and a need to address a 
real ``kitchen table'' issue for families all across this country. We 
have an opportunity and a responsibility to pass an extension of 
unemployment insurance and, in doing so, to provide a measure of 
financial stability to millions of Americans who have been laid off in 
the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression. We have 
the opportunity and the responsibility to provide peace of mind to 
families who are left without a job and nowhere else to turn and are so 
concerned about their future, families who, right now, as we debate our 
ability to bring this bill to the floor of the Senate, are having a 
much more agonizing debate about how to make next month's rent or even 
next week's grocery budget if their unemployment runs out.
  For these families, this bill Senator Baucus has worked so hard on to 
bring to the floor helps them out. What this bill does is extend the 
unemployment to laid-off workers in States that have been hardest hit 
by job losses by 6 weeks, and it provides every single unemployed 
worker who has exhausted his or her benefits, regardless of the State 
in which they live, an additional 14 weeks of support. It makes some 
critical changes to help our families. It makes clear that the 
additional $25 per week in benefits that Congress included in the 
Recovery Act does not count against someone who is seeking food stamps.
  This bill could not come at a more critical time. This month, we have 
seen banner headlines in newspapers all across the country that make a 
very stark point about the tough climate our laid-off workers face 
today. In my home State of Washington, employment has now risen to 9.3 
percent. That number alone does not illustrate the need to provide 
immediate relief. Even with the robust recovery program that has saved 
and created jobs throughout my State, our workers are feeling the very 
sharp effects of this recession.
  Since this recession began in December of 2007, there have been over 
145,000 jobs lost in my State. That means 1 in 20 jobs in Washington 
State has been lost. These unemployed workers are searching for an 
average of 6\1/2\ months before they find a job. While those statistics 
clearly point out the need for this legislation, the stories behind 
these statistics provide even more of a call to action--stories of 
single mothers who are scanning the classifieds every morning and then 
having to search through coupons each night to afford to feed their 
family dinner; stories of skilled workers, with many years of education 
and the debt that comes with that, facing stacks of unpaid bills; 
stories such as those that over the past few weeks, as unemployment 
benefits have become exhausted for millions of workers, have poured 
into my Senate offices, stories such as the one of Wane Ryan of Bonney 
Lake, WA, who shared it with me.
  Mr. Ryan says he is a carpenter, with 23 years of experience, who has 
been looking for work for more than a year. In his letter, Mr. Ryan 
tells of recently selling all his personal belongings, relying on food 
banks, and being on the verge of financial ruin, through no fault of 
his own. He wrote me to ask for another emergency unemployment 
extension just to keep his head above water.
  There is Kristina Cruz, from Seattle, who received her last 
unemployment check just a few weeks ago. Kristina told me she has been 
unemployed now for 20 months, after spending 10 years in human 
resources. She talks of going above and beyond in her job search, a 
skill she picked up as her career. But still, she said, interviews have 
been few and far between. She told me she is stressed out and panicked. 
She says she is not interested in living off the government long term, 
but in the midst of this economic crisis, she believes we need to pass 
this extension.
  There is the story of Angela Slot and her family from Washougal, WA. 
Angela's husband designs kitchens and has been out of work since last 
May. He has returned to school, put out over 1,500 applications in 
different fields in different States and for every different type of 
job. Yet today he remains without work.
  The Slot family has taken out loans, used all their savings and 
unemployment payments just to stay in their home and provide for their 
three children. Without this extension, the Slot family calculates they 
will not have their home by the end of this year.
  For these families and millions more like them, the question that 
haunts them every single day is what will we do if this support runs 
out? Where will we go when our savings are exhausted, when the credit 
card can no longer make ends meet, when the bank will not wait for a 
mortgage payment any longer? To whom do we turn?
  In a time of national crisis, it is our job to make sure we are 
answering those questions. We can do that by providing a bridge to 
financial stability for families today. By the end of this year, my 
State projects that nearly 18,000 people will be in need of these 
benefits just to keep them afloat.
  I, personally, know how important it is to have the government in 
your corner during financial times. When I was young, my dad had to 
stop working. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. That left my 
mom at home to support and raise seven kids, as she also took care of 
my dad. It was a very difficult time for my family. We made a lot of 
sacrifices to get by. But you know what. Our country was there for us. 
Through food stamps, VA benefits for my dad, student loans, my family 
made it through those tough times, and I am here today. That is why I 
believe strongly that we need to be there now for the millions of 
Americans who are struggling today.
  We cannot sit on the sidelines. Doing so would only compound the 
problems we already face--more families pushed into bankruptcy, more 
families who will have foreclosures happen to them, more people will 
lose their health care, and less progress will be made on this 
important road to financial recovery. We cannot sit by as working 
families are pushed to the brink by a financial crisis they did not 
create but for which they are still paying.
  Angela Slot ended her letter to me by saying she felt families such 
as hers, families who are just scraping by, are ``falling off the 
radar.'' This unemployment extension bill is our opportunity to prove 
to her and many others that is not the case. We have not forgotten 
them. We know they are out there.
  I urge our colleagues to listen to the voices of their constituents. 
I ask our Republican colleagues not to block this effort, not to say no 
to these families, not to turn a blind eye but to join us in passing an 
unemployment extension that makes sure America's laid-off workers are 
not ignored.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I speak in support of extending 
unemployment benefits to provide much needed relief to jobless workers.
  Nearly 2 million Americans, including more than 13,000 Minnesotans, 
will exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of the year. We are 
facing record high unemployment in this country. The number of 
Americans out of work has almost doubled over the past 2 years. People 
who want to get back to work are still facing a depressed job market, 
where there are six unemployed workers for every job opening. It is no 
wonder that I have received so many letters from my constituents, 
scores of people going to 60 job interviews, sending in hundreds of 
resumes.
  I thank Senator Shaheen for her leadership here; Senator Durbin, who 
just spoke; the majority leader, Senator Baucus, Senator Dodd, Senator

[[Page 25110]]

Jack Reed, and my other distinguished colleagues in working with me to 
provide this much needed relief. I was so pleased that we were able to 
put together a proposal that included all 50 States because I simply 
could not explain to the people of my State that while people in 
Wisconsin who are unemployed would get extended unemployment benefits, 
those in Minnesota would not. Our States share a border, but when 
people suffer in one State, they also suffer in the other.
  This is a fiscally responsible solution that is fair and will provide 
for a State such as Minnesota, where unemployment is still high but 
below 8.5 percent, which was the mark that was used in the House bill. 
Unemployment is unemployment no matter where you live. Minnesotans 
without jobs do not suffer any less because our State's unemployment 
rate is slightly lower.
  Several constituents wrote to me earlier, when Minnesota's 
unemployment rate was around 8 percent. At that time, as I mentioned, 
the proposal from the House would have cut things off at 8.5 percent. 
After getting these letters and talking to people in my State, I 
decided that was not good enough.
  In one letter, Marilynn, from St. Paul, wrote:

       Unemployment may be 8 percent for the State of Minnesota, 
     but in our house it's 100 percent.

  As Marilynn notes, unemployment is a national issue that does not 
simply begin or stop at State lines. Being unemployed in North Dakota, 
South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, or any other State does not hurt any 
more or less than being unemployed in Minnesota. Deep, persistent 
unemployment hurts no matter where you happen to live, and the solution 
my colleagues and I crafted strikes the right balance in recognizing 
that fact.
  Mariann from White Bear Lake, MN, wrote:

       The tremendous stress of trying to search for an affordable 
     job and raise two children on my own is overwhelming in 
     itself. I cannot help that I live in one of the States with 
     lower than 8.5 percent unemployment.

  And Brian from Anoka wrote:

       In fairness, what is good for one unemployed person should 
     be good for all unemployed persons everywhere.

  As the Senator from Illinois knows, sometimes we get letters that are 
all the same, from groups that organize, but these were individual 
letters from citizens out there who are hurting and who actually looked 
at the paper, heard the news, and decided: Wait a minute, the House 
bill, at 8.5 percent, does not help me. I am going to be left with 
nothing.
  Simply put, this legislation in the Senate provides relief in a fair 
way to all those in need. This legislation helps jobless workers who 
desperately need relief. This legislation does not add to the deficit. 
This legislation is the right thing to do. Despite our best efforts, we 
have not been able to convince some of our colleagues on the other side 
of the aisle to agree that struggling middle-class Americans deserve an 
up-or-down vote on whether their unemployment benefits should be 
extended.
  While my colleagues can perhaps afford to wait in their States--maybe 
the unemployed people in their States aren't writing them these 
letters--the more than 13,000 Minnesotans who will exhaust their 
unemployment benefits by the end of December cannot afford to wait. 
They have already waited too long. The time to act is now. This is the 
decent thing to do, and in a stretched economy, it is the right thing 
to do.
  I know people are happy that we have started to see some good numbers 
on Wall Street. We need that. Maybe it will help us with our 401(k)s. 
But what do you say to Barbara, from Mahtomedi, MN, who understands 
Wall Street is doing well, but writes this:

       My husband has been looking for a job since March and 
     without unemployment to help us out, I don't know what will 
     happen. All four of us have been looking for steady 
     employment for months. We drive old cars, bought a house 
     within our means that we have been fixing up slowly by 
     ourselves the past 22 years, buy everything used or on sale. 
     Please don't let Minnesotans get left out in the cold--oh 
     yes, don't forget about the heating bills coming in the next 
     months. We need jobs and extending benefits will help us 
     survive.

  And what would my colleagues who are now stopping this bill from 
coming to the floor say to Carolyn of Woodbury, MN, who writes:

       As of the early part of November of this year, I will have 
     completed all my unemployment benefits. I have been looking 
     for work daily since May of 2008 and have had several 
     interviews but no offers yet. I like working, I am looking 
     for work, I want to work and I am able to work but have not 
     gotten any offers yet. Is there any chance that unemployment 
     benefits will be extended? My unemployment is my only source 
     of income and if I am not able to get that and don't have a 
     job what will happen to a person like myself?

  The time for partisanship is over. This is about people's lives and 
their ability to survive and to continue to provide for their families. 
I am very glad this Senate recognized that an unemployed person in 
Minnesota needs as much help as an unemployed person in Wisconsin, but 
now it is time to get the bill passed.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.

                          ____________________