[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18695]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 EXTEND FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, many of us are congratulating each other over 
this bipartisan budget agreement, but I want to remind us that there is 
still some unfinished business that we need to take care of.
  Unemployment is still a very real issue for our Nation and for our 
communities; and in my district, unemployment is as high as 16.9 
percent, twice the national average.
  If we fail to take immediate action and we allow this emergency 
unemployment insurance to expire, just in California 214,800 people 
alone will lose their benefits by December 28 and an additional 325,800 
unemployed California workers will lose their benefits in the first 6 
months of the year.
  This is really unacceptable. A failure to extend this critical 
lifeline to those in need would not only be a devastating blow for 
millions of American families already struggling, but it would hurt our 
own recovery of our economy.
  Now is not the time to pull the rug out from under millions of 
Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
  Speaker Boehner, I urge you to do the right thing and not adjourn 
this House without extending Federal unemployment insurance for 
millions of Americans.

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