[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 530-536]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS ADDRESSES UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Collins of New York). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2013, the gentleman from 
Nevada (Mr. Horsford) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of 
the minority leader.
  Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this designated hour at the 
beginning of this week for the Congressional Black Caucus, as it 
normally does, to come to this floor to bring forward issues that are 
very important to the American people. Tonight I join with my 
colleagues to speak about the importance of extending unemployment 
insurance benefits, growing our economy, and putting people back to 
work. So for the next hour, the Congressional Black Caucus will talk 
about the dire need for emergency unemployment insurance benefits and 
the fact that it is time for Congress to do its job.
  I would like to thank my coanchor, Mr. Jeffries from New York, and 
our chair, the Honorable Marcia Fudge from Ohio, for their leadership 
and working tonight to bring forward these important issues.
  At this time, I would like to yield to the gentlelady from New York, 
Representative Clarke.
  Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Las 
Vegas (Mr. Horsford) for his leadership and guidance during this CBC 
Special Order.
  Today I rise to support the extension of emergency unemployment 
benefits. Since 2008, both parties have come together to provide extra 
weeks of unemployment benefits for our fellow Americans. These 
Americans are our neighbors, our relatives, our friends, and 
constituents who are unemployed through no fault of their own. They 
have consistently tried to find employment, having pounded the pavement 
each and every day but, unfortunately, to no avail. They deserve our 
help.
  Unemployment benefits help Americans pay for their most basic 
survival needs: food, housing, and medical care. If unemployment 
benefits are not extended, approximately 5 million Americans are 
expected to lose emergency unemployment benefits over the next 12 
months; and of that number, 383,000 are New Yorkers.
  Failing to extend the emergency benefits will reduce economic growth 
by 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2014 and cost our economy 
310,000 jobs next year. Is this really another problem that we want to 
have our Nation face?
  It is important to realize that unemployment not only negatively 
affects individuals and their families but also our economy, in 
particular, small business owners. The mom-and-pop shops that are the 
pillars in our communities suffer more when their customers cannot 
patronize their businesses.
  Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, has found that 
every $1 spent on unemployment insurance grows the economy by $1.55.

                              {time}  1930

  These dollars circulating through the economy create jobs. Despite 
statements to the contrary made by some of my Republican colleagues, no 
one wants to be unemployed. Americans want to work. It is part of the 
American ethos. It is also part of the American ethos to help our 
fellow citizens out when they are down. We all must remember that, but 
for the grace of God, go I.
  I close by asking Speaker Boehner to bring an emergency unemployment 
benefit extension bill to the floor, and, in doing so, help not only 
our economy but, most importantly, millions of deserving and unemployed 
Americans.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I would like to thank the gentlelady from New York. 
Thank you for your hard work and for bringing your perspective to the 
need for extending the unemployment insurance benefits to the 1.3 
million Americans who, as of this week, have now lost receiving that 
benefit. This is the week that they would have otherwise received that 
unemployment insurance benefit in the mail. So this is real for some 
1.3 million Americans who are struggling this week to meet their 
obligations to keep the lights on, to put food on the table and to pay 
the rent. This is the week. Each week that Congress fails to act, 
72,000 Americans--additional Americans--lose their unemployment 
insurance benefits. One person every 8 seconds, Mr. Speaker, loses 
their uninsurance benefits when Congress fails to act.
  That is why the Congressional Black Caucus is here this evening, to 
bring attention to this urgency of now. Every week, 72,000 Americans 
are struggling--additional Americans--on top of the 1.3 million who 
already, as of December 28, have lost their unemployment insurance.
  So this is real, and the impacts are real.
  I would like to go to the vice chairman now of the Congressional 
Black Caucus, the gentleman from North Carolina, who provides 
tremendous leadership to our caucus and to the issues important to the 
American people, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Let me thank you, Mr. Horsford, for yielding to me 
this evening. Let me also thank you for your passion and your tireless 
work not only on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus but on behalf 
of the people of Clark County, Nevada, and all of the other people that 
you represent in your great State.
  Thank you very much for your tireless energy. I have watched you from 
the first day that you have come to the House floor, and you are, no 
doubt, one of the hardest working Members of this House, and I thank 
you so very much.
  Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to urge my Republican 
colleagues to pass an extension of the Emergency Unemployment 
Compensation program and to do it now. This program is a crucial safety 
net for those who are most in need. My colleagues know that I represent 
North Carolina, but what many of you may not know is that my State, the 
State of North Carolina, already lost its Federal unemployment 
insurance last year. Republican Governor Pat McCrory turned away $780 
million in Federal funding to assist the long-term unemployed. Now, on 
December 28, a few days ago, 1.3 million Americans joined tens of 
thousands of my constituents in losing out on the support that they 
deserve.
  This program, Mr. Speaker, is a response to the greatest recession 
since

[[Page 531]]

the Great Depression. In the last 5 years, President Obama has led our 
Nation back from the brink of economic collapse, but there is still 
work to be done. Now is not the time to abandon this program. 1.3 
million Americans have been searching for work for more than 26 weeks, 
often after being laid off from jobs they have worked at for years.
  The need for emergency unemployment insurance is especially high in 
communities like those that I represent in North Carolina. Double-digit 
unemployment still persists in many counties that I represent. In my 
congressional district, one in four people, including 36 percent of our 
children, live below the poverty level. Families in transition depend 
on emergency unemployment insurance to put basic food on the table, to 
care for their children and to search for new employment.
  Last year, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory dealt a devastating 
blow to the long-term unemployed by reducing State unemployment 
benefits. That reduction caused the Federal Emergency Unemployment 
Compensation program to literally dissolve in our State. Governor 
McCrory made this decision knowing its harmful impacts and that it 
would make North Carolina the only State in the country to end 
emergency jobless benefits for its citizens.
  The Governor's decision is a disgrace. That decision forfeited--
forfeited--$780 million in urgently needed Federal benefits for long-
term unemployed North Carolinians and cost our State $1.5 billion in 
economic activity. The elimination of the EUC program nationwide now 
could cost an additional 200,000 jobs due to reduced economic activity. 
This is according to the Congressional Budget Office.
  At the beginning of this year, Americans from all 49 other States 
lost out on their emergency unemployment benefits, just like my State 
did last year. Now 1 million families will struggle to pay their bills 
and provide for their families during their search for employment. 
North Carolinians have already seen firsthand how devastating these 
cuts can be. My constituents are outraged. They are outraged with 
Governor McCrory and Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly 
who chose to abandon this program.
  We must extend this program to give families a chance to get back on 
their feet. Democratic proposals to extend the program would give my 
constituents a chance--a fair chance--to receive Federal unemployment 
benefits held hostage by our Governor. Two times in the last 2 months 
House Republicans on this floor have nearly unanimously defeated 
Democratic motions to hold votes on extending this program.
  Therefore, we must stand up against those like Governor McCrory who 
seek to disenfranchise hardworking people who are down on their luck by 
extending emergency unemployment insurance and other critical programs, 
a program which they have paid into as insurance payments for many, 
many years.
  We cannot, Mr. Speaker, we must not afford to turn a blind eye and to 
leave those behind who are most in need.
  I want to thank you, Mr. Horsford, for bringing this to the attention 
of the American people. I hope my colleagues are listening tonight 
because this is a sense of urgency.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina, and I thank 
him for his profound remarks this evening and the call to action, not 
only for the leadership in North Carolina but for the leadership in 
this House to do its job in bringing legislation forward to allow us to 
vote to extend unemployment insurance benefits for the people of North 
Carolina and across America, who this week, now because of the failure 
of Congress to act, when they went to their mailbox to receive their 
unemployment insurance benefit, this is the week that they opened that 
mailbox and nothing was there to provide that bridge. So this is real, 
and so people are impacted.
  This has been an insurance program that has received bipartisan 
support in the past, and there is no reason why this Congress cannot do 
its job to get this done now. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina 
for his leadership.
  I would like to now turn to the gentlelady from Texas, who brought 
forward and who raised the objections prior to our even adjourning in 
December, along with 170 of our other colleagues, calling on the 
leadership to not go on recess but, in fact, to stay here and do its 
job. We are where we are now, but we have raised these objections, and 
the gentlelady from Texas has raised these objections.
  I would like to yield now to the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Sheila 
Jackson Lee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Let me thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. 
Horsford) and Mr. Jeffries again both for convening the Congressional 
Black Caucus, under your leadership and the leadership of our 
chairwoman, the honorable Marcia Fudge, and to be joining here on the 
floor, at least to date, with our colleague from New York, our 
colleague from North Carolina and our colleague from New Jersey, which 
is clearly showing the vast depth of this particular crisis going from 
South to North and to the far western State of Texas.
  Let me say to those who are presently unemployed, the 72,000 a week 
that occurs as we stand on the floor of the House, that you can count 
on the Members on this floor, the Democratic Members, the Congressional 
Black Caucus and our good friends on the other side of the aisle, to 
recognize that this is not a partisan issue but an American issue.
  Just a few weeks ago, or just last week, in fact, I had in the 
Houston Chronicle an op-ed that said the number one job of the House is 
to extend emergency unemployment aid. The program will help the economy 
by creating jobs and boosting growth.
  I think it is important to emphasize and refute some of the negative 
stigma that comes from those who misunderstand what the unemployment 
benefit--or unemployment insurance, let's use that word--means. It 
means that individuals have actually worked. They are working people. 
They put into the idea of having an unemployment benefit, and the 
United States Federal Government determined in times of bad economic 
times to continue the 47 weeks through an emergency relief.
  By the way, it was supported by President George Bush in 2008 when he 
offered to say that these individuals have worked previously, they are 
looking for work, and they deserve to be able to support their 
families.
  Individuals like Anetta Parker, who has been looking for work for 2 
years, who is holding up the very letter that she held up at my press 
conference in Houston to acknowledge that this is a letter that many 
people are getting in their mailboxes. Not only are they getting these 
letters, but they are not getting any indication for relief, call 
United Way, call social services. I can tell you, people who work do 
not have a tendency to know the local social services, and they are 
desperate. They get a letter that they are being cut off.
  In the midst of this I met individuals who are looking for work and 
said, I am now homeless because those dollars were allowing me to pay 
week to week for a place to live, a place to clean myself, if you will, 
to make myself presentable for work, to look for work, which is a 
requirement of the emergency unemployment insurance benefit, and they 
are now on the streets.
  Not only are they on the streets, Mr. Horsford, but when I went home 
on Friday and sat down again at the career and recovery resources to 
look for or to talk with more individuals, many of these persons are 
veterans, because veterans are taught to suck it up, and they have not 
even, in some instances, attempted to get these benefits--to those who 
would say that everybody just wants to be on the dole. So beyond the 
unemployment benefits of 1.3 million, there are many others that we 
have not approached.
  So it is important that this Special Order is done to reach to the 
other side of the aisle for the Speaker to put on the floor of the 
House an emergency 3-month extension of unemployment benefits, to not 
cast aside individuals who have been looking for work and to not ignore 
the fact that over this cold

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December, we lost 16,000 jobs in construction, we lost some 11,000 jobs 
in the movie industry, we lost jobs in the sports industry, and we are 
continuing to lose jobs because this month was a cold month. So the 
production of jobs was 78,000. Even though this economy is rebounding 
and we have had some other good months, this month, the December month, 
it was 78,000.
  Don't you think that those individuals who are looking for work were 
rebuffed by the fact, or were blocked by the fact, that there were jobs 
that were lost?
  So I would like to encourage my friends in the other body to quickly 
find a way of coming together. As my colleagues know, they postponed 
the votes today. I believe that some of the suggestions being made 
about pension relief for military persons may be a basis of finding 
compromise, but I think when we pit the idea of fiscal responsibilities 
and deficits against individuals having a roof over their head and 
children having food on the table, it is disgraceful.
  It is equally disgraceful when people misinterpret the idea of what 
unemployment benefits are all about. As I wrote this op-ed, it saddened 
me, though I believe in the First Amendment, when letters came in 
response to the op-ed, and they wanted to ask a question: Why don't 
these people get a job?

                              {time}  1945

  Why don't we have a jobs program? That didn't disappoint me; I think 
that is a good question. But they didn't seem to understand that it was 
people looking for work who could not find work. It was long lines of 
people who couldn't find work. They want to work. So I would say to 
them, this is not a hand out but a helping hand. I expect to introduce 
soon a training bill that allows individuals who are on unemployment 
benefits to get a stipend to be able to utilize for Labor Department-
designated disciplines of work, to train for work that needs additional 
workers.
  So it is not a stipend to go out to your local job-training setup 
that somebody set up. It is actually to have officially documented 
needs for the particular profession that you are training for. You get 
your unemployment benefit, you are not cut off, and you get a stipend 
for that training. That creates jobs.
  But just to say let's pass various bills, like the Keystone bill, and 
that is the cause of no jobs is not accurate. But I do think we can 
support the jobs bill of the President, and we will create jobs.
  So I want to thank the gentleman for allowing us to come and to be 
able to highlight that in the cold of the winter there are people on 
line trying to get work, and that were people on line trying to get 
work in November and October and September and August and July, because 
this young lady, Ms. Parker, has been looking for work for 2 years. She 
is a very competent administrative assistant, along with many others. 
Veterans have been looking for work.
  So I would like to say to those I met with on Friday, we will not 
forget you. We recognize that you are deserving of human dignity and 
that you want to work, that you have worked, that you are not looking 
for a handout, and that the unemployment insurance is not a handout. It 
is an emergency relief for those who have worked. Let us have 
compassion. Let us have sympathy. Let us care about others, and let us 
work together to extend the unemployment insurance benefit to provide 
for the families of America.
  I thank the gentleman.

               [From the Houston Chronicle, Jan. 8, 2014]

         No. 1 Job for House: Extend Emergency Unemployment Aid

                        (By Sheila Jackson Lee)

       Right now, 1.9 million Americans are experiencing an 
     economic emergency, which will turn into a catastrophe for 
     them and their families if Congress does not act immediately 
     to extend the emergency unemployment program that expired on 
     Dec. 28. Unless the aid is extended through 2014, nearly 14 
     million Americans will be negatively affected--the 4.9 
     million workers who will see unemployment insurance cut off 
     and the approximately 9 million additional family members 
     those workers are supporting.
       There are some who believe that there is no economic 
     emergency justifying an extension of the emergency 
     unemployment program. They are wrong. Let them tell that to 
     jobless veterans looking for a new job in an economy in which 
     there are still nearly 2 million fewer jobs now than there 
     were before the recession began. Let them tell that to the 
     persons who know from experience there are more than three 
     applicants for each new job created. The national employment 
     rate is 7 percent and of these unemployed, the long-term 
     unemployment rate--the share of unemployed workers who have 
     been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer--is 37 percent, the 
     highest it has been in 20 years.
       Behind these grim statistics are the heart-breaking stories 
     of real people--veterans, parents, seniors--struggling to get 
     by on about $300 a week. These benefits, which the recipients 
     earned and paid for through their payroll taxes, are needed 
     to pay rent and utilities, buy groceries, pay for Internet 
     access to search for jobs and gas to get to job interviews.
       This is why the most urgent task pending before the House 
     of Representatives is to extend the emergency unemployment 
     program. To address this emergency, I introduced legislation 
     last month, the Unemployed Job Hunters Protection and 
     Assistance Act (H.R. 3773), that would extend the program for 
     12 months to provide the benefits earned by the recipients 
     and avoid what will be a tragedy not only for those who are 
     unemployed but also for an economy still recovering from the 
     worst recession since the Great Depression.
       Extending the program is good for the nation's economy 
     because it will create an estimated 200,000 jobs, increase 
     economic growth by .2 percent and generate $1.52 in economic 
     activity for each dollar expended.
       The emergency unemployment program was established in 2008 
     during the Bush Administration and has been reauthorized 
     several times as the economy continues its recovery. Congress 
     has never failed to extend emergency unemployment insurance 
     when the rate of long-term unemployment was even half the 
     current level of 37 percent. And because of the emergency 
     nature of the congressional action, the extension was not 
     subject to any offset requirements during the Bush 
     Administration. There is no good reason to impose any such 
     requirements now; doing so serves no purpose other than to 
     punish the persons who need our help.
       Despite a slowly recovering job market, these unemployed 
     job hunters have not lost faith. Every morning, they get up 
     and go out or online looking for jobs. They want to work. 
     They still have hope that things will get better so they can 
     provide for their families. But they need the help that 
     unemployment insurance is intended to provide.
       Now is not the time to scapegoat those who have lost their 
     jobs through no fault of their own. Now is the time to extend 
     the emergency unemployment aid. At a minimum, Congress should 
     and must vote to extend the program for three months while 
     negotiations continue on a long-term solution. On Tuesday, a 
     bipartisan measure that would do this cleared a procedural 
     vote in the Senate, allowing debate to continue on the three-
     month stopgap. This is an economic emergency. It is time for 
     congressional Republicans to work with their Democratic 
     colleagues on the issues of importance to the American 
     people.
                                  ____


   Texas and 18th Congressional District Employment and Unemployment 
                              Information

       64,294 unemployed workers in Texas lost their benefits on 
     December 28.
       11,294 unemployed workers in Harris County lost their 
     benefits on December 28.
       An additional 16,900 unemployed workers will lose their 
     benefits in the first six months of 2014.
       Employment Situation in Texas:
       Unemployment rate: 6.4 percent.
       Maximum weeks of benefits available now: 54.
       Maximum weeks of benefits if Congress doesn't act: 26.
       Reduction in benefits since 2011: -42 percent.
       The current average weekly benefit is $338.59.
       If EUC is extended in Texas: 11,766 jobs will be saved 
     through the end of 2014.
       Percent of unemployed receiving UI before expiration of 
     Federal program--TX--29.
       Percent of Unemployed Receiving UI after expiration of 
     Federal program--TX--20.

  Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentlelady from Texas. I appreciate very 
much you bringing to our attention who is covered by unemployment 
insurance and putting a face to who is receiving this insurance. I am 
glad you focused on that term ``insurance'' and the fact that these are 
individuals who have paid into the program, as they have been gainfully 
employed for some time.
  Due to no fault of their own, they are in need of this bridge. Many 
of them are in training, and this initiative of legislation you are 
proposing to link job-seekers to employer-based demands is exactly the 
type of reform that our

[[Page 533]]

side supports and that we are willing to work with the other side on, 
but we need to provide the extension of the unemployment benefits while 
we work on those reforms.
  Right now, the Congress has failed to provide this bridge, and you 
have documented that very well in your remarks this evening. I thank 
the gentlelady.
  Let me highlight, as well, some of the additional information on who 
is covered by unemployment insurance benefits. This is according to the 
Department of Labor: four out of five beneficiaries of unemployment 
insurance benefits, Mr. Speaker, are individuals with children in the 
household or another adult in the household, typically a spouse; 44.5 
percent of individuals who receive emergency unemployment benefits are 
households with children. So just think about that for a moment. This 
is the week that those emergency employment benefits did not come in, 
the $300 or $400 or $500 that they may have received to help meet their 
basic needs this month. That impacted not only that job-seeker, not 
only that unemployed worker, but also their children.
  Half of the people receiving emergency unemployment insurance have at 
least some college education. So for those who continue to use this 
rhetoric of these are people who are lazy, who are sitting at home 
channel surfing, they don't want to look for work, half of them are 
people already with college education or some form of education; 36.4 
percent have high school degrees.
  And, finally, Mr. Speaker, 50 percent, over nine in 10 live in 
households with total income less than $75,000 a year. This is the 
working poor of our country. These are the people who are striving to 
be part of the middle class; and, if anything, they are using emergency 
unemployment benefits as a bridge until they can get back on their 
feet. I also want to point out that 43 percent are individuals with 
income over $75,000 a year. So this economy has hit virtually every 
stratum of income level, and so that is why it is important for this 
Congress to do its job in extending unemployment insurance benefits.
  I want to commend the other Chamber, the leadership, Majority Leader 
Harry Reid from my home State of Nevada, and Republican U.S. Senator 
Dean Heller, also from Nevada, in large part our State, because we have 
unemployment at about 9 percent. We are tied with Rhode Island for the 
highest unemployment in the country, not because job-seekers don't want 
to go to work, because the second highest industry in our State was 
construction and because of the bust of the construction economy in our 
State, there are no jobs or there are very few jobs for those trades 
workers, for engineering firms, for architecture firms. I have one 
architecture firm that has had to lay off 70 percent of their workforce 
in the last few years because there simply aren't the jobs in the 
construction sector. Despite the fact that our economy is beginning to 
rebound, it is not rebounding in all sectors or all regions of the 
country. That is why it is critically important that this Congress do 
its job to extend unemployment insurance benefits for the 20,000 
Nevadans who have lost them, and the 1.3 million Americans who have 
also lost them.
  I now would like to turn to my good friend and freshman colleague. It 
has been a great opportunity over the last year to get to know him and 
the work that he does in the great State of New Jersey and the 
commitment that he brings to serving the people of his congressional 
district. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, before I start, let me thank the gentleman 
from Nevada (Mr. Horsford) for his leadership through the first session 
of the 113th Congress and into the second session of the 113th 
Congress. I am honored to be one of the freshmen--actually the ranking 
freshman in the CBC, if I can take that liberty--but the gentleman from 
Nevada and the gentleman from New York have distinguished themselves in 
the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus in the first session 
of the 113th Congress, and I am honored to serve with them.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today for the 90,000 New Jerseyans who lost their 
unemployment insurance on December 28 and the 89,000 more New Jerseyans 
set to lose unemployment benefits in the first half of the new year.
  The people back in my district can't understand how out of touch some 
of my Republican colleagues have become to think that cutting off this 
assistance will force the unemployed to get a job. Well, I have news 
for my colleagues: these people are not lazy, quite the opposite. These 
people are out every single day searching desperately for work, but the 
fact of the matter is there just aren't enough jobs for the amount of 
people unemployed.
  It is up to Congress to pass a jobs bill to put these people back to 
work, but this Congress has not done that. Until that time comes, we 
have a moral obligation to help our fellow Americans out and give them 
the economic security that they need to put food on the table, to keep 
a roof over their head, and to pay their bills so that they have the 
ability to continue to look for a job.
  Mr. Speaker, it is called insurance for a reason. These people have 
paid into this fund, and they must be actively searching for work to 
receive this critical lifeline. They might have paid into the system 
for 5, 10, and even 20 years to receive this assistance, and now we 
talk about cutting them off.
  They are filled with anxiety as they compete against hundreds of 
others for a job. I know, I have heard their stories.
  A young man by the name of Adam, an arts teacher from Montclair, New 
Jersey, who holds a master's degree from Columbia University, recently 
lost his job--through no fault of his own--because of funding cuts in 
education. Despite his best efforts, he, like so many others, has been 
unable to find work. With every passing day, anxiety for the well-being 
of Adam's family grows. Through no fault of his own, he finds himself 
in this predicament.
  Another young man from my district, Jeffrey from Bloomfield, New 
Jersey, is now gainfully employed, but was fortunate enough to have 
unemployment when he lost his job. When he hit hard times during the 
recession, Jeffrey was thankful that he had at least some money coming 
in to make ends meet. In his letter to me Jeffrey wrote:

       I am concerned for my friends and neighbors who might not 
     have been so lucky, who will be devastated by the sudden loss 
     of income. The ability to pay for a roof over one's head and 
     basic living expenses may seem a small measure of dignity, 
     but it means the world to someone who has lost their job that 
     they have devoted years of their life to.

  So I urge my Republican colleagues and the leadership to listen to 
people like Adam and Jeffrey, to understand this is not about people 
who are lazy or who are sitting around or who are just biding time and 
taking in a stipend that they haven't paid into or deserve. These are 
Americans, your friends, your neighbors, people we all know, relatives, 
that find themselves in this situation. We must do something for them. 
We must continue to make sure that they can meet their needs on a 
minimum basis to keep them afloat until they can find a job. So I urge 
the Republican House leadership to listen to people like them.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to put a bill on the floor that extends 
unemployment insurance right away; otherwise each and every week my 
Republican colleagues delay, more than 3,400 more New Jerseyans are 
kicked off unemployment and find themselves in devastating 
circumstances.
  It is unconscionable, it is unacceptable, and we must as the Congress 
of the United States of America do something about it.
  Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey. 
Again, I commend you for raising your voice and urging this body to do 
its job on behalf of your constituents, the people of New Jersey who 
elected you to bring their perspective to this Congress. You are asking 
the same question many of us are asking, which is to our colleagues on 
the other side: Do they know what it is like to be unemployed? Do they 
know what it is like to have to look for a job day after day, week 
after week, submitting resumes not knowing if you are going to be

[[Page 534]]

called back? Do they know what it is like to struggle, or to look one 
of your children in the eyes and worry about how you are going to make 
ends meet? That is the reality for 1.4 million Americans today because 
Congress has failed to act. Whether they have been in that situation or 
not, they need to understand that is the reality for many Americans.
  I thank you for your comments and for being here during this Special 
Order hour on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, and I commend 
you for your hard work.
  Mr. Speaker, the reality of the situation is significant for many.

                              {time}  2000

  Like my colleagues last week, I went to a local work center in my 
district, Workforce Connections, to talk with and meet with a group of 
workers, job seekers, people who were looking for work. When I walked 
into the center, the one-stop center where everybody looks for the jobs 
on the job board was packed. There was a waiting list to get in in 
order to get onto a computer to search for jobs.
  I talked to one unemployed worker. Her name is Alfordeen. I want to 
just share a bit of her story with you because it hit me that this is 
who I am fighting for. She is one of those 20,000 Nevadans affected by 
the expiration of her unemployment insurance.
  She worked for 20 years doing patient admissions for a local medical 
facility in southern Nevada. She was laid off in 2012, which resulted 
in her losing her health insurance. Unfortunately, she was later 
diagnosed with breast cancer and has been living with one of her 
children while she trains to become certified to get another job. 
Alfordeen is using her remaining unemployment insurance benefits to 
cover some of her medical costs, and she just found out recently, 
fortunately, that she qualifies now for health insurance under the 
Affordable Care Act.
  But what Alfordeen told me, what all of the workers I talked to told 
me, is what she wants most is what she had in 2012: to go back to work, 
to regain her independence, and to help others do the work that she 
loves by admitting them and helping them get health care.
  So Alfordeen is an example to me of the 1.4 million Americans who are 
out there who are trying, who want this Congress to try as well. They 
expected us to do our job, and we failed them. We failed when we left 
in December, and we are failing them every day that we don't extend 
unemployment insurance benefits.
  So I am urging my colleagues to not allow another day to go without 
us taking action. It is true that one person every 8 seconds loses 
unemployment insurance. It is true that 72,000 additional Americans 
will be affected every week that this Congress fails to act. But we 
have the ability to do something about it, and that is why we are here 
tonight.
  I want to turn now to my coanchor of this Special Order hour. He is a 
great colleague, someone who I have profound respect for. He works 
tirelessly on behalf of the constituents who elected him from New York. 
He brings so many great perspectives to the Special Order topics that 
we have been able to cover. I would like to recognize him now, the 
gentleman from New York, Congressman Jeffries.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Let me thank my good friend, the distinguished 
gentleman from the Silver State and the anchor of today's CBC Special 
Order for his eloquence, his continued leadership and, of course, for 
all of the hard work that you have put in on behalf of the people that 
you represent back at home. It has been an honor and a privilege to 
serve with you, as well as with all of the members of the Congressional 
Black Caucus who continue to be a voice for the voiceless, the 
conscience of the Congress fighting hard each and every day to bring to 
life the American Dream for the greatest number of people possible in 
this wonderful country of ours.
  Last week we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the declaration of 
the war on poverty. In January of 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson 
came to this House before a joint session of Congress and rolled out a 
series of initiatives designed to march us toward what he would term 
the Great Society, a war on poverty to lift people out of their 
perilous condition and bring to life for them the American Dream.
  His war on poverty produced programs like Medicare and Medicaid, 
school breakfast, Head Start, the Food Stamp Act, minimum wage 
enhancement, Job Corps, college work study, program after program 
enacted between 1964 and 1966, which, taken together, were effective in 
lifting millions of Americans out of their impoverished condition.
  Fifty years later, we have made a tremendous amount of progress. But, 
unfortunately, there are many in this Chamber who, instead of 
continuing the great legacy started by President Lyndon Baines Johnson 
here in January of 1964, have instead engaged in what perhaps is more 
appropriately termed a war on the poor, a war on working families, a 
war on the middle class, a war on senior citizens, and, in its current 
manifestation, a war on the long-term unemployed.
  Unfortunately, whenever folks identify, set their sights on a 
government program that they don't like, the operating procedure 
follows a script that is all too familiar: demonize, downsize, and 
ultimately pulverize.
  First, the script says you have got to demonize the program; tell 
things to the American people that don't necessarily hold up to the 
scrutiny of a comprehensive factual examination. Once you demonize the 
program, it enables you to downsize it, to reduce its impact, to reduce 
our investment. Ultimately, the goal of those who are engaged in this 
war on the poor, war on the long-term unemployed in its current 
iteration, ultimately the goal is, once you have demonized it and 
downsized it, in some way, you just want to pulverize it.
  So if you think about this in the context of what we face right now 
in America, we have heard emanating from this Chamber and other parts 
of the country this caricature of individuals who supposedly are the 
long-term unemployed. As the gentleman from Nevada has indicated, we 
have heard representations suggestive that these are individuals who 
are couch potatoes sitting at home channel surfing, who only get 
exercise once a month apparently when they are running out to get their 
unemployment check and then race back into the house, and that is the 
only exercise that they get.
  What is the basis for this caricature? What analysis has been done of 
the 1.3 million Americans who you have unceremoniously thrown off the 
long-term unemployment rolls to come to this conclusion? You have no 
evidence to make this caricature.
  In fact, we know that current statistics suggest that here in 
America, while we have made significant progress since the Great 
Recession, 8.1 million private sector jobs that have been created, we 
know that we still have a way to go. For every 2.8 Americans who are 
looking for a job, only one job exists.
  So the facts are working against those who are unemployed at this 
point. It is not as if they are not working hard to find a job. The 
jobs statistically don't exist, simply in terms of the raw numbers. We 
have an economy that needs to produce more jobs.
  Now, what I found fascinating about this whole situation, in addition 
to this unwarranted caricature that you have created--folks on the 
other side of this debate who don't necessarily like unemployment 
insurance and have been plotting to work against it, perhaps since the 
moment that it was first put into effect in this great country--is that 
during the short time that Representative Horsford and Payne and Beatty 
and Veasey and myself have been here, what folks here in the Congress 
have systematically done is to undermine our ability to actually 
recover and produce jobs.
  This is now at least the third meaningful instance in which this type 
of unproductive legislative behavior has been witnessed. We first saw 
it in the march toward April 1 when economists subjectively warned that 
if we allow sequestration to take effect, what would

[[Page 535]]

happen is that we would cost the economy approximately 750,000 jobs. 
Yet folks on the other side of the aisle, many people in this town 
decided that, notwithstanding the random nature of the $85 billion in 
sequestration effects, the impact that it would have adversely on the 
economy, that we were going to allow sequestration to take hold on 
April 1. That is exactly what was done; an unproductive, unconstructive 
action that robs the American people of jobs that might have otherwise 
existed.
  Then in October of this past year, we see another unproductive action 
taken by those who constantly complain about the alleged slow pace of 
the economic recovery but then consistently take actions to undermine 
it. So on October 1, we shut down the government because of this 
unbridled obsession that some people have with the Affordable Care Act, 
even though at the time it was the law of the land, it remains the law 
of the land, passed by a duly elected Congress in 2010, signed into law 
by President Obama as a first-term President, passed constitutional 
muster in a decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, and then 
reaffirmed by the American people with the Electoral College landslide 
that took place in November of 2012. Yet you came to this floor and 
decided that you were going to shut down the government for 16 days.
  Why was that unproductive? Because not only did you push hardworking 
civil servants out of work, but objective analyses of the situation 
said you cost the economy $24 billion. And then you create this 
caricature that you want all of us to believe that the unemployed are 
simply sitting home with this alleged plethora of jobs that exist and 
they can't find them.
  Now we find ourselves in another situation where, instead of coming 
together to try and reasonably take steps to put Americans back to 
work, what you have decided to do, since unemployment benefits for the 
long-term unemployed were allowed to expire on December 28, is that you 
are threatening to cost the economy an additional 240,000 jobs.
  So for the third time within the last 12 months, legislative 
malpractice here in the Congress essentially has resulted, or will 
result, in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars and billions of 
dollars in lost economic productivity. Yet you create this caricature 
that there are Americans sitting at home on the couch channel surfing, 
getting one day of exercise per month racing out to get their 
unemployment check.

                              {time}  2015

  There is no basis for that conclusion. That is why we are here on the 
floor of the House of Representatives, saying that we need to pass an 
extension of unemployment benefits and that we need to pass it now.
  As I prepare to yield to my good friend, I just want to point out 
that, at this point in time, as the chart reflects, the long-term 
unemployment rate in America is higher than it ever has been before as 
a percentage of those who are unemployed, which means that, today, 37.7 
percent of those Americans who are receiving unemployment insurance are 
long-term unemployed, meaning they have been out of work for 27 weeks 
or more.
  In prior instances, when this Congress and our government had allowed 
unemployment insurance to expire for the long-term unemployed, the 
percentage of those who actually had been out of work for 27 weeks or 
more was much lower--15 points lower when unemployment insurance was 
allowed to expire for this category of Americans in March of 2004, 
about 16 points lower when unemployment insurance was allowed to expire 
for this category of long-term unemployed folks in April of 1994 under 
President Clinton, and if my math serves me correctly, about 22 points 
lower in June of 1985 under President Reagan when unemployment benefits 
were allowed to expire.
  So we are in a very different situation than we have been in the 
past. It is an urgent situation. Progress has been made. We still have 
a long way to go, and that is why it is necessary for us to do 
everything possible to help out those Americans in need and not leave 
them on the battlefield simply to fend for themselves.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I appreciate very much the gentleman from New York--the 
coanchor--and the chronology and the facts that you have laid out to 
make the case that, unfortunately, it is not just the unemployment 
insurance benefits that have been under attack by the House Republicans 
to reauthorize or to extend but that there have been other bridges that 
have helped the middle class--or those who are aspiring to be part of 
the middle class--in just the last year that this Congress has failed 
to act on.
  May I inquire of the Speaker how much time we have left.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Nevada has 10 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I would like to use that final 10 minutes then, Mr. 
Speaker, to close by highlighting the points that my colleague Mr. 
Jeffries just did a phenomenal job of laying out, one being that this 
is not the first time unemployment insurance benefits have been 
extended. In fact, this chart shows that while there is still more work 
to be done to help the unemployed--and I completely agree that our 
focus must be on creating jobs and on growing the economy. That is why 
the Congressional Black Caucus and individual Members like myself have 
proposed jobs-creating legislation. The first bill I introduced as a 
Member of Congress was a jobs-creating measure to help people in 
Nevada's Fourth District go to work, to help bring down our stubbornly 
high unemployment.
  For those who are in the unemployment calculation, according to the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, from January 2007 to date, unemployment 
insurance has repeatedly been extended, including by Republican 
administrations. It was in June of 2008 that then-President George W. 
Bush authorized emergency unemployment insurance benefits to be 
extended. What was the unemployment rate at the time? 5.6 percent. He 
didn't extend unemployment insurance one time--he extended it five 
times--and he didn't offer a proposal for how it had to be paid because 
it was an emergency. It was an emergency then, and it is an emergency 
now with the national unemployment rate just below 7 percent. When 1.4 
million Americans who rely on the unemployment insurance benefit have 
now lost it, it is an emergency for these individuals, and it is an 
emergency for our economy.
  So, for those on the other side who don't want to do this because it 
is the right thing to do for our neighbors, for hardworking Americans 
who have done everything that they can and at no fault of their own 
they are still unemployed, if you don't want to do it for that reason, 
then maybe do it because it is good for the local economy, because the 
money that is provided for under the unemployment insurance benefit is 
then spent by those beneficiaries in local grocery stores, and it is 
spent paying utility bills, paying rent, and that all helps affect the 
economy.
  Failing to renew the emergency unemployment insurance program will 
cost the economy, as my colleague from New York said, over 200,000 jobs 
this year, including 3,000 jobs in Nevada, according to the 
Congressional Budget Office. The expiration of the 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 of 
State and local economies, according to analysis done by the Ways and 
Means Committee. In Nevada, in the first week from the loss of 
uninsurance benefits expiring, $5.4 million has been lost. The 
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found that unemployment 
benefits are one of the most effective fiscal policies to increase 
economic growth and to help employment.
  So, if our colleagues on the other side don't want to do it because 
it is the right thing to do for those four out of five of the 
beneficiaries who have children, if they don't want to do it for half 
of the beneficiaries who have gone to some form of college, if they 
don't want to do it for the veterans who also

[[Page 536]]

rely in some part on unemployment insurance benefits, then do it for 
the local economy, but whatever your reason, do it.
  I would like to ask my colleague if he has any final remarks that he 
would like to offer. Then I want to close by just debunking this pay-
for argument that some on the other side have again proposed, which is 
that the only way they are going to vote for something is if there is a 
plan to pay for it.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I appreciate the distinguished gentleman from Nevada.
  I think that you have identified a subject matter that is important 
for discussion before the American people as a result of this argument 
that we have heard related to the need to pass unemployment benefits 
only if a pay-for or an offset or a host of programs on the GOP wish 
list is passed simultaneously to our trying to provide some measure of 
relief to unemployed Americans. I am going to let the distinguished 
gentleman from Nevada address this argument in the current situation, 
but I would note that we have seen this type of ransom-like behavior 
here in this Chamber before.
  We saw it when I first arrived on the floor of the House of 
Representatives. It was when we were waiting day after day, week after 
week, month after month for a Superstorm Sandy relief bill to be 
passed--more than 75 days, unprecedented in the history of our 
country's response to a natural disaster--for the people I represent 
back home who were devastated by Superstorm Sandy. The reason for the 
holdup was that this ransom-like demand of offsets--unprecedented in 
American history--was put before us. It was the same situation as it 
relates to the government shutdown, in which we were told that you can 
keep the government open--that is a proper function for us here in the 
Congress--but only under circumstances in which you delay, defund or 
destroy the Affordable Care Act--ransom-like behavior.
  Now we find ourselves in a similar situation, and I yield to my 
distinguished colleague from Nevada to lay out why we once again find 
ourselves dealing with unreasonable demands to do what otherwise is our 
proper duty here on the floor of the House of Representatives and in 
Washington.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I thank the gentleman from New York.
  As I come to a close, let me just say directly that, President George 
Bush did it five times and not with a pay-for. On December 14, 2012, 
during his Weekly Radio Address, he was reminding the Congress that no 
final bill was sent to him extending these unemployment benefits for 
750,000 Americans whose benefits would expire on December 28.
  He went on to say:

       These Americans rely on their unemployment benefits to pay 
     for their mortgage or rent and their critical bills. They 
     need our assistance in these difficult times, and we cannot 
     let them down.

  As I said, the unemployment rate at that time was below 6 percent, 
and it is now below 7 percent. It is time for this Congress to act, but 
if you demand a pay-for, then I have one suggestion: What about 
eliminating or closing a number of the corporate tax loopholes, such as 
eliminating the tax incentives for companies that get benefits for 
shipping American jobs overseas? Right now, the United States loses an 
estimated $150 billion annually to tax avoidance schemes involving tax 
havens. Many of our largest and most profitable companies paid no 
Federal taxes in previous years.
  So, for the other side to make this argument is disingenuous. It is 
unconscionable that you would hold hostage the benefits for 1.4 million 
Americans for 3 months at a cost of $6.5 billion when you have a Tax 
Code that is littered with corporate tax incentives for shipping 
American jobs overseas. If we were to close those tax loopholes, we 
could re-shore those jobs back to America, putting Americans back to 
work, reducing our unemployment rate, and growing America's economy. 
That is what we should be doing. That is why this Congress needs to 
act, and it is time for this Congress, under the leadership of the 
Speaker, to do just that.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous materials.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Nevada?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, another week has 
passed while Republicans in Congress continue their blockade on the 
renewal of federal unemployment insurance. More than 1.5 million 
jobless Americans remain without unemployment insurance and another 
72,000 hardworking men and women will be cut off with each additional 
week of inaction that passes by.
  House Democrats have continued their push to hold a vote on extending 
emergency unemployment insurance. In fact, this is the third time that 
I join my colleagues in making sure that we renew our promise to the 
American people by demanding a simple vote on a three-month extension. 
Every day that we fail to act means more families will be left 
wondering how they will put food on the table or pay for basic goods as 
they seek employment.
  Instead of devoting so much time in Congress trying to overturn the 
Affordable Care Act, House Republicans should reconsider the impact 
that allowing unemployment insurance to expire will have on the U.S. 
economy and American families. It is estimated that the lapse in 
unemployment coverage removed $400 million out of state economies in 
just a single week, while failing to extend unemployment insurance will 
cost the U.S. economy 240,000 jobs this year.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of restoring economic security for 
millions of Americans and their families. I am truly disappointed to 
see that the House Republican agenda for 2014 does not include renewing 
federal unemployment insurance. The long-term unemployed cannot wait on 
Congress to restore this critical support any longer, and I urge my 
Republican colleagues to act now.

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