[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 9 (Monday, March 8, 1993)]
[Pages 355-356]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Amendments 
of 1993

 March 4, 1993

    Today I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 920, the ``Emergency 
Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1993.'' This legislation will 
provide critical assistance to the unemployed and their families by 
extending the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program--which 
is scheduled to expire March 6--through October 2, 1993. In addition, 
the legislation includes an innovative worker profiling program to 
encourage States to use the Unemployment Insurance system to link 
permanently displaced workers to reemployment services early in their 
period of unemployment and facilitate their transition to new jobs.
    With the EUC program due to expire this Saturday, I commend the 
Congress for its swift action to ensure that there will be continued 
help for millions of jobless Americans who want to work to support their 
families but cannot find jobs. I believe that, as a Nation, we have a 
moral obligation, as well as an economic interest, to help these 
families stay afloat while they attempt to find jobs.
    While there have been recent signs of improvement in the economy, 
this improvement has regrettably not extended to the area of employment. 
The unemployment rate has been over 7 percent for 14 consecutive months 
and the current rate is higher than the rate that existed when the EUC 
program was originally enacted. Moreover, the current labor market is, 
in many respects, weaker than it was at what was considered the worst 
point of the recession. For example, the rates at which the unemployed 
are now exhausting their regular State benefits and the average length 
of time the unemployed are now receiving benefits are significantly 
higher than they were at the bottom of the recession.
    H.R. 920 combines compassion with a healthy dose of common sense. It 
not only

[[Page 356]]

provides extended income support to help the unemployed with grocery 
bills, mortgages, car and tuition payments, and other expenses, but also 
offers a means to help target reemployment services to the structurally 
unemployed so they can get back to work.
    Enactment of this bill is an important first step. While there are 
funds available to pay EUC benefits for a few more weeks, the funds for 
the balance of the extension are included as part of my economic 
stimulus package. The EUC extension will help sustain the unemployed 
until we are successful in creating more jobs. It is therefore also 
imperative that we now work together to enact quickly the stimulus 
package, as well as the long-term public investment and deficit 
reduction proposals I have presented. These actions will ensure strong, 
sustained economic growth and significantly increase the job 
opportunities available to the American people.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
March 4, 1993.

Note: H.R. 920, approved March 4, was assigned Public Law No. 103-6.