[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 13267-13268]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, when millions of Americans lost their jobs, 
they did not just lose a place to go to work in the morning; they lost 
their incomes, their savings, and their retirement security. They lost 
their tuition payments. Many lost their homes. They lost their gas 
money, their grocery money, and many other things--all of this through 
no fault of their own.
  I am not talking about a handful of people in isolated corners of 
this country. I am talking about millions of Americans from every one 
of our States. To so many of them, unemployment is not just a temporary 
inconvenience. For far too many, it is an unending emergency.
  As the front page of today's New York Times reports--and it is the 
same in newspapers all over the nation--40 percent of the unemployed in 
this country have been out of work for 6 months or longer. They are 
trying to understand why at this pressing moment--when jobs are harder 
to come by than at any other time in recent history--Congress cannot 
get its act together to extend emergency insurance, as we have always 
done with bipartisan backing for decades.
  Well, part of the reason is that many on the other side do not see 
this as an emergency. They look at a crisis for families' budgets and 
see an opportunity for their political fortunes. They think when 
unemployment goes up, so do their poll numbers.
  Some even think that the unemployed enjoy being out of work. That is 
why one of the top Republicans in the Senate called unemployment 
assistance a ``disincentive for them to seek new work'' and voted three 
times in recent weeks against extending it.
  Another senior Republican Senator said these Americans--people who 
want nothing more than to find a new job--``don't want to go look for 
work.'' And then he, too, voted ``no'' three times.
  A third senior Republican Senator, who, like his colleagues, has time 
and again stood in the way of addressing this emergency, justified it 
by saying--listen to this quote--``We should not be giving cash to 
people who basically are just going to blow it on drugs.'' That is a 
direct quote.
  My constituents take offense at these absurd allegations, and they 
have let me know about it time and time again. They have written or 
called, sent me e-mails. They have pulled me aside when I have been 
home to talk to me about this.
  One of these e-mails came to me last week from Las Vegas, where 
unemployment is now 14.5 percent. Statewide it is 14.2 percent. This 
man's name is Scott Headrick. He wrote me, and you can hear in the e-
mail his anger. It is sad. He is one of 2.5 million Americans who, 
because of Republicans' objections, is no longer getting the 
unemployment help he needs. This is what Scott Headrick wrote to me:

       I've been unemployed since July 2008 and have not been able 
     to obtain a position at a supermarket packing groceries. I've 
     been religiously seeking, searching and applying for

[[Page 13268]]

     work without any luck. I have since left my family in Las 
     Vegas, a wife and five children, to look for work in other 
     states and again, without any luck.

  Scott mentioned the Senators making these outrageous claims and 
demanded that they, in his words:

     apologize to those Americans truthfully looking for work to 
     support their families. . . . I and my family have already 
     lost everything but each other.

  Scott is right. The twisted logic we have seen in the unemployment 
debate is not just appalling or heartless, though it is certainly both 
of those things. It is also factually wrong.
  First, there is only one open job in America for every five Americans 
desperate to fill it. So no one should be so crass as to accuse anyone 
of being unemployed by choice--especially not those same lawmakers 
whose irresponsible policies over the past decade created the very 
crisis that collapsed the job market in the first place.
  Second, unemployment insurance works. It helps our economy recover. 
Mark Zandi, who was John McCain's economic adviser when he ran for 
President, calculated that every time $1 goes out in unemployment 
benefits, $1.61 comes back into the economy. The Congressional Budget 
Office has estimated that number could actually be as high as $2, 
meaning we double our investment in helping the unemployed.
  If you think about it, it makes sense. Nobody is getting rich off the 
$300 unemployment check they get each week. And nobody keeps those 
checks under his mattress. These Americans turn around and spend the 
money. They immediately pay their bills, go to the store, keep up with 
their mortgage payments, which stimulates the economy. They spend it on 
the basics and bare necessities while they look for work. The money 
goes right back into the economy, which strengthens it, fuels growth, 
and ultimately lets businesses create the very jobs the unemployed have 
been looking for, for so long.
  The people we are trying to help want to find work. They are trying 
to find work, and they would much rather get a paycheck than an 
unemployment check.
  Nevadans such as Scott Headrick, who lost his job 2 years ago this 
month, and who has tried tirelessly to find a new one, is just one of 
millions who needs our help. Democrats are not going to turn our backs 
on him. He sends out resumes and goes to job interviews, but for months 
and months he has heard nothing but ``no.'' What a shame it is that he 
is hearing the same from the Republicans in the Senate on this issue.
  Mr. President, will the Chair announce the business for the day.

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