[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8522]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  (Ms. LEE of California asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak out against the 
refusal to extend a critical lifeline for the unemployed. On December 
28, the Republicans' failure to extend Emergency Unemployment 
Compensation left 1.3 million jobless Americans out in the cold. Since 
then, more than 332,000 Californians have lost their benefits, 
including over 8,000 people in Alameda County, where my district is 
located.
  And I would like to remind my colleagues across the aisle that the 
long-term unemployment rate is still at 35.3 percent, the highest it 
has been since World War II.
  This Tea Party-controlled Congress has decided to turn their backs on 
these unemployed workers when their need is greatest. These workers 
paid into unemployment so that, in their time of need, it would be 
there.
  This failure to act has already cost our economy nearly $5 billion. 
This failure to act is mean-spirited, it is economically foolish, and 
it is morally wrong. Republicans won't support investments in job 
creation, infrastructure, or workforce training. They gut the safety 
net in the Ryan budget and won't extend unemployment benefits. My 
goodness, what in the world are people going to do? This is not the 
American way.
  I urge us to take up this unemployment compensation bill; and let's 
pass it, and pass it right away.

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