[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 93]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, 10 days ago, 1.3 million Americans lost 
their emergency extension of unemployment benefits.
  Today, this afternoon at the White House, one of those individuals, 
Ms. Katherine Hackett from Moosup, Connecticut, shared her story with 
our country. She has two sons serving in the military. She was laid off 
through no fault of her own. She has been actively seeking employment, 
and yet she still needs help.
  Yet this House left before Christmas without taking up an 
unemployment extension, which in every past recession, any unemployment 
rate above 5 percent required and resulted in automatic extensions. Yet 
this House went home.
  Curt Edwards, from Norwich, Connecticut, who I spoke to yesterday, 20 
years in the U.S. Army, Army Ranger, was laid off last April and is 
looking for work. His unemployment was cut off on December 28.
  The majority leader issued his agenda for the month of January. There 
was not a word in that agenda about extending unemployment for 1.3 
million Americans. Every economist tells us that's a mistake. These 
individuals need help. It is time for this House to focus on the 
immediate needs of the American people and extend unemployment 
insurance for 1.3 million Americans.

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