[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4355]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  (Mr. KILDEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, on December 28, emergency unemployment 
benefits for Americans were cut off; and since then, 2 million 
Americans have lost their essential lifeline and have been missing 
their rent payments, missing their mortgage payments, trying to keep 
the house warm and put food on the table. Congress has failed to act.
  What is particularly concerning to me is some of the rhetoric that I 
hear would imply that those unemployed Americans are seeking benefits 
because they don't want to work. And, in fact, yesterday, I read a 
quote from the Budget Committee chairman--and I will try to get this 
correct--saying that, in America, there is a culture in our inner 
cities of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and 
the culture of work.
  That is not the problem. The problem is a lack of opportunity. So I 
will take the chairman at his word that he was intending to say: so, 
therefore, we need to fully fund after-school programs, we need to 
fully fund pre-K programs, and we need to fully fund summer youth 
employment so that those young people do have a chance to experience 
the benefit and value of work, and that we provide a safety net to make 
sure that when they are not working, they don't lose their house, their 
car, and their family.

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