[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 337-343]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of the 
Congressional Progressive Caucus. During our Special Order hour, we 
want to talk specifically about the need for unemployment insurance 
but, more broadly, about what we need to do to make sure that everyone 
in this country has access to opportunity.
  Just yesterday, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the war on 
poverty. President Johnson said, during his State of the Union in 1964:

       Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of 
     hope, some because of their poverty, and some because of 
     their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to 
     help replace their despair with opportunity.
       This administration today, here and now, declares 
     unconditional war on poverty in America. It will not be a 
     short or easy struggle. No single weapon or strategy will 
     suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won. The 
     richest nation on Earth can afford to win it. We cannot 
     afford to lose it.

  Those are the words of President Johnson 50 years ago when we started 
the war on poverty in this country. We created Medicare and Medicaid, 
the food stamp program and programs like Head Start. And we have great 
results from those programs.
  In fact, according to a new study, these initial programs, coupled 
with expansion of pro-work and pro-family programs, like the earned 
income tax credit, have helped reduce poverty by nearly 40 percent 
since the 1960s. The poverty line fell from 26 percent in 1967 to 16 
percent in 2012, when the safety net is taken into account.
  Now, while there has been a lot of progress, we still have far too 
many people in this country who are still living in poverty or on the 
brink of living in poverty. Fifteen percent of Americans today are 
living below the poverty line, and that is just $11,490 for an 
individual. 46.5 million people in our country are living in poverty, 
and one in three Americans teeters on the brink of living in poverty. 
That includes 16 million children in this country. That is more than 
700,000 people in my home State of Wisconsin.
  According to the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University 
of Wisconsin, Madison, in Rock County, in my district, a county that I 
share with Congressman Paul Ryan, 22 percent of the children in that 
county are living in poverty.
  We still have vast inequality, income inequality. We have unlivable 
wages. And we still have Members of this body, Mr. Speaker, who want to 
chip away at that very economic security. It almost seems like today it 
is not a war on poverty, but sometimes it seems like there is a war on 
the war on poverty, that we are actually stepping backwards from the 
very improvements we made over the years from 1960.
  In fact, what we noticed that just happened was the not extending of 
the benefits, emergency unemployment benefits back in December, on 
December 28. It has affected 1.3 million Americans. Not only do we have 
issues like that, but we also have an attack on food stamps, where this 
very body has voted to cut $39 billion from the SNAP program, the 
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--$39 billion--affecting 
millions and millions of Americans.
  We have seen attempts to not allow us to raise the minimum wage, a 
minimum wage that is entirely behind where it should be. If you took 
into consideration where it should be, just for inflation from 1968, 
that minimum wage in 2013 dollars would be at $10.60--not $7.25, at 
$10.60. We are way behind keeping up with inflation.
  Income inequality is at an all-time high. We are finding that incomes 
for the top 1 percent have grown more than 31 percent since 2009, and 
the bottom 99 percent of people, their income has moved less than 1 
percent. So we are in a challenging time.
  We know that there was an economic downfall across the globe, and 
especially hard hit, we feel it in this country. And while we are 
having dual activities happen, jobs are creeping back up, we are having 
progress, but still, 7 percent of people are unemployed.
  And while we have got those jobs creeping up, we still also notice 
that people are being left behind with this economy, and that is 
exactly why we have tried to do things like extending the unemployment 
insurance benefits for people.
  But unfortunately, in this body, in this very body, Mr. Speaker, 
austerity has ruled the day. Austerity has taken place, instead of 
prosperity. Instead of doing measures that would lift people out of 
poverty and help people get a job and help people be able to support 
their families, we are trying to take government down and down and 
down, like they did in Europe, and they have had disastrous results 
from doing that.
  That is not a path out of our current economic condition. We need to 
be investing in our people so that they have those opportunities. They 
can grab a ring at that ladder and get a good job and be able to get 
by. So there are so many things we need to do.
  Unfortunately, these attacks aren't just in this body, in the 
Congress. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, these attacks are even happening 
in the States.
  In my home State of Wisconsin, our Governor, Scott Walker, was 
recently on a CNN program. And when he was asked about extending 
unemployment benefits, his response was, the reason why the White House 
is so actively pursuing this, unemployment insurance, is they want to 
desperately talk about anything but ObamaCare.
  Can you believe the Governor of a State who is 37th in job creation, 
who promised when he was elected to create 250,000 jobs, and he has 
done a portion of that, is somehow trying to say that helping people to 
get out of poverty, helping people to be able to support their family 
with groceries and to be able to pay their rent or mortgage, at a time 
of still having record people who are out of work, while we are trying 
to start getting jobs to come back, at 7 percent, at that time, Mr. 
Speaker, that Governor can still only talk about ObamaCare, as all too 
often this body has done.
  We need to act now. The time to act on this, for this body, is now. 
1.3 million people are currently out of work and trying to get those 
benefits they need so desperately during that period that have been cut 
off. And every week, across the country, 72,000 new Americans will lose 
their benefits if we don't

[[Page 338]]

do something--72,000 thousand people across the country.
  Mr. Speaker, in our Speaker of the House's district alone, you look 
at the largest cities in that district in Ohio: Springfield, Ohio, 
60,000 people, that would be like having your entire city of 
Springfield go unemployed in a single week; in the city of Hamilton, 
62,000 people, 1 week, all out of work; Middleton, 48,000 people, you 
can take that and the surrounding communities, all in 1 week, out of 
work if we don't do something.
  That is why, Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that this body do 
something. 1.3 million Americans have lost these benefits at the end of 
December, including 20,000 military veterans who aren't getting the 
benefits they need. These are hardworking people who are still trying 
to find jobs in this economy, but there are just not enough jobs yet 
available. And in many fields it is even tougher.
  Right now, 24,000 Wisconsinites have lost these important, vital 
lifelines, and the number just keeps going up every single week by 
72,000 people. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the House Republicans adjourned 
Congress on December 12, more than 2 weeks before these benefits were 
set to expire. We could have done something, we could have stayed and 
worked, and instead we didn't. Now, because of that, we have 1.3 
million and counting people who don't have access to these vital 
benefits.
  Now, let's just think about this. Under President Bush, five times we 
extended these benefits without any strings attached like this Congress 
is trying to do to this President, five times, and the unemployment was 
less than the 7 percent we are at right now. It is hypocritical for us 
not to do what we all did together five times under President Bush 
while people are still looking for work.
  The bottom line is you still need this money, not just to pay for 
groceries and to pay for rent or your mortgage, but you need things to 
be able to get a job. If you don't have the ability to pay for gas in 
your car, how are you going to be able to find a job? You need to be 
able to have that car to go to interviews to find a job.

                              {time}  1745

  You need to be able to pay for your phone so you can receive a phone 
call for these jobs. These are all reasons why we need to make sure 
those benefits are available for all too many people in this country.
  There is also what happens to the economy when you don't have these 
benefits in place. Just in the first week since Congress cut off long-
term unemployment, our local economies across America lost $400 million 
of potential economic activity, and that is going to grow every single 
week. So it is a double-whammy: not only the people who are desperately 
looking for work, trying to find that job, not able to find that job, 
but we are also going to have even more people be unemployed because of 
the overall impact that has on the economy.
  It has been said that 200,000 jobs would be lost in 2014, and we are 
going to decrease the gross domestic product simply by not doing these 
benefits. The bottom line is, there are so many reasons why we need to 
do this. Later, I am going to talk more about my State of Wisconsin and 
why it is important.
  I am joined by one of my colleagues here today who is actually the 
cochair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representative Raul 
Grijalva. Representative Grijalva has served in Congress for six terms. 
He is a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and he 
also serves on the Committee on Natural Resources, where he is the 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental 
Regulation.
  He is a tremendous Member of Congress. He has been a mentor to many 
of us who are freshmen, who recently have joined, and is a very strong 
member of our Progressive Caucus, speaking on behalf of each and every 
American who needs opportunity. It is my pleasure to yield now to the 
gentleman from Arizona, Representative Grijalva.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Congressman, let me at the outset thank you for the 
opportunity to provide some clarity to the discussion and the lack of 
debate, many times, in this House about what is really important to the 
American people. That clarity is important to this whole Congress. It 
is important specifically to our Democrats and in particular to the 
Progressive Caucus, of which you are a member, and I want to thank you 
for that and for your efforts.
  The Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program expired on 
the 28th because of a lack of action on the part of the majority--the 
majority being the Republicans--cutting off an average weekly benefit 
of $300, as has been stated, to 1.3 million job seekers. Without that 
extension, another 72,000 Americans on average are estimated to lose 
their unemployment insurance every week during the first half of this 
new year.
  All economists agree that providing extended unemployment benefits is 
one of the most effective job creation strategies available during a 
high period of joblessness. In this period of economic uncertainty, 
every $1 of unemployment compensation creates 52 cents in additional 
economic activity beyond that dollar. The nonpartisan Congressional 
Budget Office estimates that extending benefits for another year will 
save 200,000 jobs.
  The failure by the Republicans to extend Federal unemployment 
insurance at the end of last week is already taking more than $400 
million out of the pockets of American job seekers nationwide and State 
economies.
  Unemployment insurance is viewed as a very effective stimulus because 
Americans without jobs tend to spend their unemployment insurance right 
away and on the very basic needs that they and their families need.
  Democrats have called on Congress to extend the Federal emergency 
unemployment insurance program through 2014. Congress must act soon to 
restore those necessary benefits to the unemployed workers and to their 
families.
  This economy still has 1 million fewer jobs than before the Great 
Recession began; 37 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for 
more than 6 months; almost 1.9 million more would lose their 
unemployment benefits in the first half of 2014, as their State 
benefits run out.
  In my State of Arizona, the failure by the GOP, the Republicans, to 
reinstate and extend the unemployment compensation benefits directly 
affected 17,100 unemployed workers in Arizona. An additional 22,500 
unemployed workers will lose their benefits in the first 6 months of 
2014 if this Congress does not act.
  Arizona has an average of an 8.3 percent unemployment rate throughout 
the State. There has been a 20 percent reduction in unemployment 
benefits to these workers since 2011. So we stand a chance, in Arizona, 
to save up to 2,000 jobs and reinstate for 17,000 people their 
unemployment benefits if this Congress were to act now.
  We are here today, with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan) 
managing this hour, to talk about the necessity and the urgency of the 
extension of unemployment benefits that has to be a priority for this 
Congress.
  For those willing workers and their families, it is an essential, 
essential act by this Congress. These workers should not be pawns in 
political gamesmanship or in gotcha strategies by the Republicans to 
try to, in effect, embarrass the President. That does not need to be 
part of this equation. As Mr. Pocan pointed out, this has been dealt 
with in a bipartisan manner. This renewal, regardless of who has been 
in the White House, has been a response to the needs of the American 
people and their workers. I also believe that people receiving 
unemployment should not be subjected to punitive, mean-spirited 
requirements in order to receive that support.
  We need action. We don't need posturing. We don't need empty 
preaching from the majority on extending unemployment benefits. That 
needs to be done and done immediately.
  As we talk about unemployment benefits and their extension, I also 
want to mention that we have to realize that

[[Page 339]]

there is not a subtle or overly covert agenda at work here by the 
majority. We see the nonaction on unemployment, a vital and necessary 
response that, in the past, has been met with bipartisan support. We 
now see cuts amounting to $20 billion in nutrition and basic sustenance 
support for people in need, the SNAP program in the farm bill. That 
cumulative effect of $20 billion will affect many, many families, 
children, and adults throughout this country.
  There is also a growing wage and income inequality and disparity in 
this country. That has been as a consequence of policies in which we 
reward those that are doing well--and God bless them, and they should 
do well, and we should be proud of them--we reward them with tax 
breaks, with loopholes, and with the ability to increase their income 
and their purchasing power while at the same time shifting the burden 
of responsibility for basic services in this country to hardworking, 
middle class people in this country. That income inequality is possibly 
one of the most dangerous economic realities that is happening to this 
Nation, and that, too, is an agenda that is going on and continues to 
go on in the policies and the initiatives that are being promoted by 
the majority party in this House.
  There is a huge need in this country for a livable minimum wage that 
pays people for the actual work that they do. We can't ignore the 
sequester cuts and how they have directly affected child care and the 
ability for parents, and particularly women, to be able to work and 
have some security that their children are being taken care of. The 
cuts in that area, in Head Start, in particular, are going to be 
devastating; early childhood education, the cuts in that area, and the 
freedom that it would provide parents to be able to feel secure about 
being at work while their children are learning and being taken care 
of.
  The cuts in job training and the ability for people to seek new 
careers and change the orientation of where they are working, that has 
been cut. Public education, an investment strategy that, in hard 
economic times, has been critical to our country, again, is being cut. 
Access and affordability of higher education, again, being cut.
  There has been no jobs bill. It was interesting to hear the Speaker 
of the House say the other day that it is the Democrats' fault that 
there is no jobs agenda that has been presented. There has been a jobs 
agenda presented over and over again by a variety of colleagues in this 
House, in the Senate, and by the administration. The inaction and them 
turning their face to that reality has been a consequence of the 
leadership in this House that has refused to deal with that.
  Unemployment benefits are part of a greater crisis, a crisis of 
economic fairness in this country, a crisis that demands that this 
Congress look beyond its own rhetoric and look at the reality.
  In my district, every time in our office people come in seeking help 
from us, and, invariably, the biggest request is, How can I find a job? 
How can I get trained for a new career? How can I get myself in a 
situation where I can go back to work and feel secure in taking care of 
and supporting my family? For single heads of households, it is the 
same issue.
  I would suggest that if we really want to deal with the economics and 
not just provide rhetoric about jobs that we look at the first 
necessary step: extend these unemployment benefits, provide some 
security and some sustainability to millions of workers in this 
country, and then move on to the real agenda, which is to provide some 
fairness to these workers and some opportunities to these workers.
  Again, Congressman Pocan, I appreciate the time and yield back.
  Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Congressman Grijalva, for so articulately 
outlining the austerity policy of the House Republican leadership and 
their stunning lack of ability to get anything done to help the 1.3 
million people who are out of work and the 72,000 Americans each and 
every week that are going to lose their benefits if this House doesn't 
act.
  It is now my pleasure to introduce a stalwart progressive in the U.S. 
Congress, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial 
Services, as well as a member of the House Steering and Policy 
Committee. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and 
was past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. It is my honor to now 
yield to Representative Maxine Waters.
  Ms. WATERS. I would certainly like to thank the gentleman from 
Wisconsin, Representative Mark Pocan, for yielding to me, and I 
congratulate him for organizing this Congressional Progressive Caucus 
Special Order on unemployment insurance.
  Fifty years ago this weekend, in his the State of the Union address, 
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty. He introduced 
Federal legislation, even proposed State initiatives that would over 
time improve health, education, nutrition, and access to housing, 
employment, and economic opportunity.
  Although America has changed a great deal since that day, poverty and 
economic inequality are still at the forefront of our Nation's 
problems. They are only exacerbated by the Great Recession. The gap 
between the rich and poor in America has become a chasm. Today, 20 
percent of the income in our country goes to the top 1 percent of 
Americans, and the top 1 percent holds about 40 percent of the 
country's wealth. This inequality is mirrored in our communities, our 
housing and rental markets, and our financial system, where a lack of 
access to banking services often causes working families to have debts 
that spiral out of control.
  Mr. Speaker, inequality in this country has reached a point that for 
many, the American Dream of upward mobility and unlimited economic 
opportunity has been greatly diminished.
  The 2008 financial crisis cost our economy $12 trillion, as millions 
lost their homes and jobs. This destruction of wealth 
disproportionately hurt our Nation's most vulnerable and only widened 
the gap between the rich and the poor. Even the gains from growth 
during the recent recovery have overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest 
people in society.
  Almost 95 percent of the income gains since the recovery began have 
been captured by the top 1 percent. Meanwhile, the minimum wage has not 
been increased since 2009. Mr. Speaker, this is totally unacceptable. 
Chronic unemployment and poverty still plague many of our communities. 
American families are still struggling to make ends meet. Four million 
Americans have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, and the economy 
still has 1 million fewer jobs than before the Great Recession began.

                              {time}  1800

  Those there are other factors at play. Much of this inequality is a 
result of some of the government policies that we make, and government 
policy can help reverse these alarming trends.
  But instead, our friends on the opposite side of the aisle are 
digging us deeper and deeper into this crisis. They passed the farm 
bill that cuts SNAP nutrition program for low-income families by $40 
billion, and then the Republicans let unemployment insurance for the 
long-term unemployment expire 3 days after Christmas.
  Already, 1.3 million unemployed Americans have lost their Federal 
unemployment insurance. That includes 20,000 military veterans. Each 
day this program sits expired, thousands of additional struggling 
Americans are adversely affected.
  As State benefits are exhausted in the first 6 months of 2014, an 
additional 1.9 million Americans will lose their unemployment 
insurance. In fact, every week another 72,000 job-seekers will lose 
their benefits during the first half of this year.
  Mr. Speaker, unemployment insurance is critical to struggling 
families. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 
unemployment insurance kept 2.5 million people above the poverty line 
in 2012, including 600,000 children.
  Unemployment insurance is good for the economy. According to Moody's 
Analytics, every dollar of unemployment insurance generates $1.55 in 
new

[[Page 340]]

economic activity in the first year. The bipartisan Congressional 
Budget Office estimates that 200,000 jobs could be lost in our economy 
if unemployment insurance is not extended.
  We must act and act immediately to extend unemployment insurance. So 
I call on my Republican colleagues to bring the Emergency Unemployment 
Compensation Extension Act, that is H.R. 3824, to the House floor and 
pass it now.
  With one in five American children living in poverty, it is clear 
that the war on poverty has gone on for far too long. Let's take action 
now to have all Americans share in our Nation's growth and prosperity. 
Let's bring an unemployment extension bill to the floor, and let's 
bring it now. Let's bring a substantive jobs bill to the floor now, and 
let's bring a minimum wage increase to the floor now. American families 
have suffered enough. It is time to restore the American Dream.
  As I wrap up, let me just say this on behalf of the American people. 
I hear these arguments every day from the opposite side of the aisle 
saying if you can continue to extend these unemployment benefits, you 
are simply going to undermine the will for people to go to work. What 
you are going to do is make them comfortable on these unemployment 
benefits, and they won't go look for a job.
  Well, I want to tell you I have not talked to everyone whose on 
unemployment or who needs extended benefits; but I can tell you this, 
American folks want jobs, they want to work, they want to earn a decent 
living, they want to earn wages to take care of their families and 
their children. Their aspirations and their goals are the same as yours 
and mine. They want what America has promised.
  I would say to those who would continue this argument, don't 
disrespect the American people that way. Don't undermine the American 
people that way. Do what you know is right, what makes good sense, and 
let us help out those who are the most vulnerable, who need us now at 
this time so that they can continue to look for jobs, so that they 
continue to aspire to have the American Dream, and I thank you very 
much.
  Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Waters. Your efforts 
over the years have been so appreciated by so many, and I hope the 
House Republican leadership will listen to your pleas and bring this to 
a vote.
  It is now my honor to introduce one of my fellow freshmen who has 
rapidly been recognized not only for his hard work and effort, but for 
his skills, and his work on behalf so many across this country. I would 
like to yield some time to my colleague Representative Jeffries.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin, the 
Badger State, for his continued leadership, and each and every week 
when we are in session coming to the floor of the House of 
Representatives and articulating the progressive message for all to 
hear and for the good of the country. I appreciate you yielding some 
time during this Congressional Progressive Caucus Special Order.
  This month we marked the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the 
war on poverty. We know that on January 8, 1964, President Lyndon 
Baines Johnson came to this very Chamber, spoke to a joint session of 
Congress, and laid out a series of initiatives designed to combat 
chronic poverty in this country.
  As a result of this effort, there were many legislative battles that 
were won: in the march toward the creation of a Great Society, 
Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, school breakfast program, the Food 
Stamp Act, minimum wage enhancement, Job Corps, college work study. 
These were programs all part of that Great Society era enacted between 
1964 and 1966; and taken together with other war on poverty 
initiatives, they managed to rescue millions and millions of Americans 
from their impoverished condition and set them on a pathway toward the 
middle class.
  Over the years, we have attempted to continue that war on poverty 
with great success such that the situation in America now is better 
than it was in 1964; yet we know that the war continues. Instead, it 
seems like as opposed to waging a war on poverty here in this Chamber, 
many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have decided to 
embark on a war against the poor, a war against middle class families 
and senior citizens, those who are striving to realize the full 
potential of the American Dream. And that's why we are also so troubled 
by the failure to extend long-term unemployment benefits.
  Now, I arrived in this Chamber feeling as if I was prepared for the 
experience, given the professional and educational legislative 
experiences that I had had in advance of January 3, 2013. And it has 
been my honor and my privilege to work with such a tremendous class of 
freshmen.
  I have been troubled over the last year by the fact that I appeared 
deficient in one area, and that is in my failure to have any meaningful 
experience in the art of hostage negotiation. But from the very 
beginning that I set forth in this Chamber, it seemed as if those 
skills were necessary in this climate.
  In January of 2013, we had to wait more than 75 days before this 
House would pass a Superstorm Sandy relief package, unprecedented in 
the history of this Congress' response to a natural disaster because 
there were some who put forth a ransom note, demanding offsets, even 
though never had that happened in the history of the Republic.
  Then several months later, in the run-up to October 1, you had an 
Affordable Care Act law passed by this Congress in 2010, signed by the 
President, declared constitutional by the Supreme Court in an opinion 
parenthetically written by Chief Justice John Roberts, and then 
reaffirmed with the overwhelming electoral college election of the 
President in 2012. Notwithstanding any of that, you had folks demanding 
an exchange for keeping the government open: that we either delay, 
destroy, or defund the Affordable Care Act. Again, a ransom note 
exercise.
  Here we are, 1 year removed from my inaugural experience around the 
Superstorm Sandy debacle back again facing an almost unprecedented 
situation where the majority has said, in exchange for us renewing 
long-term unemployment benefits for Americans that reasonable people 
should conclude are in need, not only do we want a pay-for, almost 
unprecedented, the last 17 times that this has been extended, but we 
have got a whole list of ransom demands that we want enacted in order 
for us to rescue these Americans who are in distress.
  I am just hopeful, Mr. Speaker, that we can get together subsequent 
to the United States Senate which has signaled and indicated its 
willingness to move forward, see to it that it shouldn't be the case 
that in exchange for taking a positive step forward in this 
institution, we always have to take two steps backward.
  The positive step would simply be to renew the provision of 
unemployment benefits for the long term, individuals who have been 
working hard to find a job, and then coming together to figure out 
collectively how we can all move forward in the best interest of this 
country and our economy. I am hopeful that that will take place in the 
next day or week, certainly within the month, and we will continue to 
press forward in that regard.
  With that, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his continued 
leadership.
  Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Representative Jeffries, and thank you for 
articulating, I guess, what I have been feeling also for the last year, 
my lack of hostage-taking skills. I certainly learned some in the last 
12 months serving in this body.
  It is now my pleasure to yield some time to my colleague from 
California, Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, who is the first 
Mexican American woman to be elected to Congress. She cofounded the 
bipartisan Congressional Study Committee on Public Health. She became 
the first woman to chair the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and serves 
as the chairwoman of their health care task force.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to

[[Page 341]]

commend Congressman Pocan for his leadership and his hard work on this 
very, very important issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 1.4 million Americans who lost 
their emergency unemployment insurance during the holiday season and 
the millions of Americans who stand to lose their benefits in 2014 if 
Congress fails to extend unemployment insurance.
  It is an insult to the American worker to oppose the extension of 
these benefits on the premise that emergency unemployment insurance 
provides a disincentive to work and that it makes unemployed Americans 
content to live off of the taxpayer-supported benefits.
  The reality is, Mr. Speaker, that Americans have a strong work ethic 
and are the best and most productive in the world. And the reality is 
that in spite of their efforts to find employment. There are still 1.3 
million fewer jobs today than there were when many of these Americans 
lost their jobs due to our country's economic downturn. It is 
unconscionable to punish those who lost their job through no fault of 
their own and continue to actively seek work.
  With nearly three job-seekers for every available position, American 
workers are unemployed not because they are not motivated to work, but 
because there are simply not enough jobs for everyone who needs one. 
This problem is magnified in my home State of California where there 
are 400,000 fewer jobs available today than there were 6 years ago.
  Unemployment benefits average $300 per week and replace less than 50 
percent of prior earnings. Yet these benefits can make the difference 
between homelessness and hunger. They are often the only means of 
keeping a roof over one's head and putting food on the family table. 
For example, in 2012, unemployment benefits kept an estimated 2.5 
million Americans, including 600,000 children, out of poverty.
  It is also worth noting that unemployment benefits do more than 
provide a critical lifeline for out-of-work Americans. It is estimated 
that each dollar of unemployment insurance generates $1.50 in new 
economic activity. This means our economy is losing $400 million every 
week Congress refuses to extend these benefits.
  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also estimates that the 
economy will lose 200,000 jobs if emergency unemployment insurance is 
not extended.
  Unemployment insurance is a moral imperative that will also keep our 
economic recovery moving in the right direction.
  Mr. Speaker, we are a country of hardworking Americans. We must not 
turn our backs on those who need this critical Federal assistance as 
they struggle to find work.

                              {time}  1815

  I strongly urge Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor to schedule floor 
action on extending emergency unemployment insurance benefits without 
delay.
  Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much.
  It is so important to note that 37 percent of the people who receive 
these benefits have been searching for a job over 6 months, the very 
people who are going to be affected, 72,000 a week if this House 
doesn't act.
  I now yield to another colleague, someone who has been a stalwart 
member of the Progressive Caucus, is the senior whip for the Democratic 
Caucus, and she is currently a member of the Judiciary Committee and 
the Homeland Security Committee and a strong advocate for people who 
are trying to lift themselves out of poverty and find opportunity in 
America.
  It is my pleasure to yield to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kind 
leadership, because it is kind leadership, and I am very privileged to 
be very proudly a member of the Progressive Caucus, serving as the vice 
chair liaison on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus to the 
Progressive Caucus and a member of the Executive Committee and have 
watched this caucus take on hard issues. First, of course, issues that 
dealt with the idea of minimum wage and the underpayment, if you will, 
of Federal contractors paying Federal employees who are contracted to 
them.
  We have understood the distinction of the 99ers versus the 1 percent 
and waged a strong battle to make sure that the 99 percent were heard. 
So today, I want to join the gentleman and say that time is running 
out. Just this week, as I indicated earlier today and the day before, 
those whose benefits were cut off on the 28th are receiving those 
notices or are receiving empty mailboxes just in time for the end of 
the month and the beginning of the monthly bills. Whether it is one's 
mortgage or rent, whether it is the utilities that one has to pay, 
whether it is care of one's elderly parent or children, I can assure 
you that the 1.3 million, 4,000 per week, 12,000 in Harris County, 
66,000 in the State of Texas, are now confronting some very difficult 
times.
  Now, I think it should be known that when we say the term 
``progressive,'' it is also a term that celebrates the greatness of 
America, its diversity, its opportunity and prosperity. I have not 
heard one of our members of the caucus in any way challenge prosperity, 
victory, or success. In fact, I am going to share with my colleagues 
what the Houston Chronicle put on the front page: ``Sales of million-
dollar homes snowball here.''
  That gives a false image of America, congratulating those citizens 
and families who are able because of the greatness of this Nation, 
because of the hard work of themselves and so many who contribute to 
the economy, because of the hard work of those who are now chronically 
unemployed or unemployed who contributed to society and want to 
contribute to society, they are able to be prosperous. It is good news 
for the real estate industry and my friends who are in that industry 
and good news for small businesses, but that clouds the issue and it 
allows people to falsely represent that all is well.
  The chronically unemployed number in the United States is higher than 
it has ever been. It is 2.6 percent, juxtaposed against a 7 percent 
unemployment rate. It varies across America.
  So I want to join the gentleman with a very loud, clarion voice, 
hopefully a voice of clarity, that you can have prosperity. We are a 
capitalistic society. There is good news in Houston. But at the same 
time, when I held an outreach press conference on December 31, fearing 
the worst, that there was a full house of people looking for work, 
people telling their stories of how long they looked for work, and the 
sadness of not being able to find work, and the faith community joining 
in and the social network community indicating they don't know how long 
they are going to last with this added number of individuals. Food 
banks, emergency food stamps and others, they didn't know how long they 
were going to last.
  It is imperative that we have, within these hours, movement by the 
other body, which we congratulate for making the first step. But I 
would like to say this should be an emergency, an emergency vote for a 
3-month extension and then the opportunity to go forward on a more 
deliberative analysis of how we can fund the rest of the time.
  So I would hope--we voted today. Democrats voted to extend the 
unemployment. I hope that the Progressive Caucus' voice will be heard. 
I thank the gentleman because I want the 1.3 million and growing number 
to be able to have the same dignity as those who can celebrate the 
purchase of a million-dollar home, which we don't in any way challenge, 
but we realize that there are people who simply want to be able to make 
that rental payment or mortgage payment. They can do it. Although they 
are making ends meet, they can do it if we recognize the importance of 
giving them that transitional bridge. Pass the unemployment insurance 
benefit now.
  Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Jackson Lee. I think you 
clearly explained the dilemma we have.
  While the economy is slowly bouncing back--and this President has 
brought us from a 9.8 percent unemployment rate he inherited down to 7 
percent--and jobs are slowly being created, we still are noticing that 
there

[[Page 342]]

are still people being left behind. We have to recognize that as well.
  I believe Secretary Robert Reich wrote a piece that appeared today 
that explained that so well. Unfortunately, due to income inequality, 
the gap of the percentage of people who are poor, are working but still 
are not earning enough, we need to talk about that as well.
  I now yield to another one of my colleagues, one of my freshman 
colleagues who in fact has been elected by our Democratic class as the 
freshman class president. He serves on the House Committee on Oversight 
and Government Reform where he is the ranking member on the 
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs, 
and is also on the Committee on Natural Resources. It is my honor to 
yield to Representative Matt Cartwright from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. CARTWRIGHT. I thank my valued and trusted colleague from 
Wisconsin for granting me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise as a Congressman from Pennsylvania, in fact, a 
Congressman from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Secretary 
Robert Reich, I might add, someone we are very proud of. And I am very 
proud myself to be a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, 
and I rise here to speak in support of a reasonable extension for UI 
benefits with no strings attached.
  I say ``no strings attached'' because every time we have extended 
long-term UI benefits, we have done so with no strings attached, no 
political wrangling, no arm wrestling. ``No strings attached'' means no 
conditions whatsoever. It is the right thing to do because you have to 
do it in a situation like this. In fact, five times during the George 
W. Bush administration, this Nation extended UI benefits on an 
emergency basis with no strings attached, and I see no reason why we 
have to depart from this American precedent today.
  I understand, Mr. Speaker, the importance of fiscal responsibility. 
It is not like there is only one party that understands fiscal 
responsibility. We get that on this side of the aisle, and we get that 
in the Congressional Progressive Caucus as well. But the question is of 
timing. We want to balance the budget. We want to pay down the national 
debt. We get why those things are important, and we know that UI 
benefits can't last forever.
  But the fact of the matter is it is an emergency now. As our dear 
friend, the gentlelady from Texas just styled it, it is an emergency 
now. The reason it is an emergency is the vast number of American 
citizens who are long-term unemployed. Mr. Speaker, 1.3 million on 
December 28 got cut off. In my own district in northeastern 
Pennsylvania, over 6,000 families got cut off on December 28, 3 days 
after Christmas.
  The fact of the matter is this is not American tradition. Since 1959, 
we have never ended long-term UI benefits at a time when so many 
Americans are long-term unemployed. The gentlelady from Houston just 
mentioned it is 2.6 percent long-term unemployed in this country right 
now. Every other time we have cut off long-term UI benefits, it has 
been at a time when the people who are long-term unemployed are way 
less of a percentage. I think the previous highest percentage was 1.3 
percent, in other words, half the percentage that we have now. Now is 
not the right time to cut off people from long-term UI benefits.
  Mr. Speaker, these are real people we are talking about. Before my 
voice entirely gives out, I want to read to you a letter I got from a 
lady named Carol Blankenhorn from Schuylkill Haven in Schuylkill 
County, Pennsylvania, which I proudly represent. Carol writes:

       I am writing because I am a single unemployed mother that 
     does not get any child support and have been supporting 
     myself and my son up until my territory at my job was 
     dissolved. I have been very diligent in my job search, but to 
     no avail. I believed that at least I had 26 weeks of standard 
     benefits, but the emergency extension is so crucial to me and 
     others because of the poor economy and the lack of jobs. I 
     have now received a notice of exhaustion for benefits in 3 
     weeks, and I am devastated. I am not one of those people that 
     are sitting back collecting. I couldn't live with myself. But 
     now as I sit and look at my son 1 week before Christmas, I am 
     beside myself and have no idea how I am to survive. I am 
     urging you to please extend and renew emergency Federal 
     extended unemployment benefits. In closing, I would ask you 
     to please respond to me of your views and intentions on this 
     very important issue.

  That was Carol Blankenhorn, a real person from Schuylkill Haven, 
Pennsylvania. These are real people we are talking about. Leaving aside 
the damage to the economy of stopping UI benefits at this point, 
leaving aside all of the economic realities that favor extending UI 
benefits, remember above all, we are talking about real people and real 
families; and that alone, in the dead of winter, is a great argument 
not to cut people off UI benefits at a time when it is next to 
impossible to find another job.
  I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Cartwright, for not only 
your long-time advocacy on behalf of so many people, but for sharing 
the personal stories, because I think that is what matters the most.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rothfus). The gentleman has 7 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. POCAN. I have all sorts of stories that I would read but I don't 
have time to from construction workers who are out of work and need 
these benefits, from machinists who are out of work, a surgical nurse 
in Baraboo, Wisconsin. There are so many people who need these 
benefits, and the very stories that Representative Cartwright shared, I 
just have pages of these stories of people across the country who need 
these benefits to continue to get by while they are looking for work. 
They are not lazy. They are not sitting back. They want to work. And in 
this economy, they are doing everything they can to try to, but the 
economy is not ready for some of these people and we have to do 
everything we can.
  I do want to read one story. I had an opportunity this afternoon to 
meet with a constituent from Reedsburg, Wisconsin. She was recently the 
winner of Half in Ten's Our American Story: 50th Anniversary of the War 
on Poverty Storytelling Contest. Her name is Amy Treptow. She was here 
with her daughter, Anna. She has benefited from programs that we have 
put together for people who are lower income. I will read her words:

       I have always worked hard and played by the rules, but I 
     was still living on the brink of poverty. My story is the 
     story of millions in today's economy in which there aren't 
     enough jobs and/or adequate training for the ones that are 
     available. The basic need for more good jobs and training 
     programs seems to be overlooked in today's conversation about 
     poverty.
       I am a veteran and a divorced mother with two children. I 
     went to school to become an elementary schoolteacher but 
     wasn't able to find full-time employment, so I enrolled in a 
     skills enhancement program at my local community action 
     agency in Wisconsin. The program assists low-income adults 
     that are working a minimum of 20 hours per week to gain job 
     skills in order to be able to have a job that pays a living 
     wage with health benefits.

                              {time}  1830

       I was working as a contract teacher making $15,184 a year, 
     which is far below the poverty line for a family of three. 
     Once I enrolled in the program, I started to take coursework 
     to get certified as a reading specialist. The program helped 
     me with the tuition and other school expenses and provided me 
     with case management services. I was also living in section 8 
     housing and received housing counseling, as well as 
     participating in the agency's Family Self-Sufficiency 
     Program. I am now a full-time employee with benefits as a 
     reading specialist instructor helping low-income children, 
     along with two other jobs, and I now own my own home.

  And she goes on.
  By providing these safety nets, the very safety nets that we 
celebrated yesterday on the 50-year anniversary of the war on poverty, 
we have helped someone like Amy and her family lift themselves out of 
poverty, but we have to do that right now in helping others.
  I would like to, at this point, yield some time to my colleague from 
Illinois, someone who has been a mentor to me my entire career in the 
legislature, and so glad to serve with her now in Congress, a very 
staunch Progressive, Representative Jan Schakowsky from the State of 
Illinois.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded not to traffic the

[[Page 343]]

well while another Member is under recognition.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. If that referred to me, I apologize.
  Thank you very much for organizing this hour for the Progressive 
Caucus.
  Mr. Speaker, we are talking about human issues that really don't lend 
themselves to any kind of political label. We are talking about people. 
And I think this is what has hurt me so much is the meanness, the 
meanness.
  I just celebrated my 15th year here in the House of Representatives, 
and I have to tell you that we have disagreed across the aisle on a lot 
of different things, but the demonization of people who are struggling 
just to live a decent life. We are talking about people when we talk 
about the unemployed who aren't looking for the huge fancy job. They 
want to make enough to be able to raise their children comfortably, to 
be able to eat, put a roof over their head, just modest things that add 
up to a decent life.
  Aside from all the arguments on why it is really dumb economically to 
not extend those unemployment benefits, that it will actually cost us 
jobs, 250,000--I don't know what the estimate is--if we don't put money 
in people's pockets that they can go out and spend, why would things 
that used to have a bipartisan consensus not prevail today?
  In 1959, 1962, 1973, 1977, 1985, 1994, and 2003, we extended 
unemployment insurance benefits until the level of long-term 
unemployment--those are people unemployed over 6 months--fell below 1.5 
percent. Today that is 2.6 percent of Americans. That is over 1 million 
Americans.
  What are we doing? Who are we? That is what I asked myself around the 
holidays. We had a lot of cold weather and snow--typical Chicago in 
some ways--and people are celebrating and still going out and shopping 
and Christmas lights and Christmas trees. I was picturing--I know some 
of those families for whom this was so bleak and so unnecessary--that 
we could have, in 5 minutes before we left here, just extended those 
unemployment insurance benefits.
  And you've got that sign there that says: Each week that we fail to 
act, 72,000 more people--that is a pretty hefty small town of people--
will lose their benefits, people who only are qualified for those 
benefits if they are seeking work, three people searching for every job 
that is available in this country.
  You talked to people who have experienced this ultimate sense of 
insecurity: What is going to happen to me and my family? What I hear at 
the end of that story when I talk to people is: I don't know what I am 
going to do. I don't know what I am going to do.
  For many people, the fear of homelessness is just right outside their 
door right now. I don't get it.
  We celebrated the--and I mean celebrated--the 50th anniversary of the 
announcement of the war on poverty and all the things that we did and 
that were supported for many years.
  Thank you.
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.

                          ____________________