[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           GOP NO JOBS AGENDA

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership has ignored the 
need for a strong jobs agenda and, worse, they have pushed budget plans 
that would only further depress the economy and harm the unemployed.
  My constituents need a real job agenda in Washington now. Yet my 
Republican colleagues continue to promote efforts to do the opposite. 
On May 11, the Committee on Ways and Means approved a Republican bill 
that would end employment as we know it, deceivingly calling it the 
JOBS Act. This act would eliminate the guarantee of Federal payment for 
temporary extended unemployment benefits on July 6.
  This plan would take $32 billion now in the Federal unemployment 
trust funds intended for extended unemployment benefits and ship the 
money to the States in block grants. It would also set unreasonable 
qualifying requirements to receive benefits and allow for the permanent 
diversion of regular unemployment funds with waivers.
  More than 4 million Americans could lose extended benefits under this 
plan? This is unacceptable.
  I assume that the floor vote on this was postponed because my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle received a message of 
disapproval from the American people. But more than abandoning this 
misguided bill, we need a stronger effort to increase jobs and improve 
our economy. The American taxpayers want and deserve more now.

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