[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12913]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, recently Senator John Kyl called 
unemployment insurance ``a necessary evil,'' and I must say his 
statement gave me some clarity for the first time in months. I've been 
mystified about how the Republicans could repeatedly block unemployment 
benefits in a struggling economy that they drove into the ditch.
  I couldn't grasp this reasoning behind depriving millions of American 
families the support they need to buy food and pay their mortgage while 
they searched for work. Now, I understand that Republicans evidently 
believe that helping jobless workers is an evil.
  I foolishly thought we might hear some compassion from the very party 
that is causing countless Americans to lose their lifeline. I just hope 
that enough Republicans in the other body will find the courage to buck 
their party and end this.
  Millions of families are counting on them. Their phone calls come 
into my office every single day from all over the country: When will 
the extended benefits be put back in? And I say, look to the 
Republicans in the Senate.

                          ____________________