[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[House]
[Pages 26906-26907]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                         UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENSION

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, over 8 months ago, Congress passed and 
the President signed a so-called ``economic stimulus'' bill which added 
nearly $1 trillion to our national debt, and now we are told by this 
administration, as the White House Council of Economic Advisors 
recently said, that we

[[Page 26907]]

can expect 10 percent unemployment through the end of next year and 
that the economic stimulus bill will contribute little to further 
economic growth. However, since then, over 3 million jobs have been 
lost, and the national unemployment rate has soared from 8.1 percent to 
a 26-year high of 9.8 percent.
  State unemployment numbers from my home State of Florida in September 
continue to reveal the sad fact that since the stimulus passed, 
unemployment has now risen to 11 percent, which is a record-high level 
not experienced since 1975.
  Today, the House of Representatives will vote on legislation to 
extend unemployment benefits to those individuals who are unable to 
find a job. I have supported extensions of these benefits in the past, 
and I am proud to do so again today.

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