Extended Unemployment Benefits Are Hurting Main Street

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I am a small business man. We own a small business, my wife and I. I know many small business owners across America are struggling to reopen and rebuild after COVID-19 shutdowns. They simply can't find workers to fill the job openings.

Why? Because the Federal Government is disincentivizing people from working. Many people are making more money off unemployment insurance than they would if they were back at work, and that is having a crippling impact on Main Streets across America, including in my district.

People in Washington need to hear these stories. Southern Illinois is home to Belleville Boot Company, a military boot manufacturer founded in 1904. A year ago, they employed nearly 240 workers in Belleville. But after each round of stimulus checks, as good as they may be, they had fewer and fewer workers showing up. Now, their workforce has dropped to 26 percent, and they can't find enough workers to fill the openings.

In Alton, the Kreative Kids Learning Center has helped educate local children for 51 years. The owner, Keith, says that they currently have 21 employees but are desperate for more. He runs ads in the newspaper, online, and on social media, offering a good wage, yet he received zero applications--zero.

He has even had to turn children away because he is so short of staff.

In Carbondale, Illinois, Mary Lou's Grill has been a local staple since 1962, serving up the most famous biscuits and gravy in town. On a telephone town hall last night, Marilynn, the owner of Mary Lou's, shared that her food suppliers are unable to hire enough people to run their facilities. That potentially means food shortages and skyrocketing prices for restaurants and customers.

Before COVID-19, the Broadway Grille in Sparta, Illinois, had more applicants than they had positions to fill. But now, Justin, the owner, says that some former employees have told him they will not seek a job as long as they are getting unemployment benefits.

He is so short-staffed that he doesn't have enough people to answer the phone most nights. If he can't find workers soon, he isn't sure what he will do.

This is not just a southern Illinois issue. It touches every community across this country. That is why I have invited several of my colleagues to highlight how their districts have been impacted.

I will start, first off, by yielding to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support. She has many stories I am sure she can tell.
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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the former speaker because of his experience in small business and running a business for a majority of his life.

Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share stories of employers across the country who are struggling to find and hire employees.

According to April's disastrous jobs report, there are 8.1 million job openings in the United States. Employers can't fill them and, as a result, can't operate their businesses effectively.

The extended unemployment handouts my colleagues across the aisle keep reauthorizing incentivize workers to stay at home and collect unemployment rather than go to work.

I have talked with countless small business owners who cannot compete with these handouts and are facing a grave workforce shortage.

I recently visited with manufacturers in Minnesota. They have had to reduce their output on medical device orders by 20 percent because workers, who they pay between $14 and $16 an hour, are making more on unemployment and choosing to stay at home.

Paying people not to work won't help us recover from COVID-19. We must encourage people to get back into the workforce and not stay on the sidelines.

The opportunity to work hard and get ahead is a pillar of the American Dream. Pursuing a career, providing for a family, and supporting our communities, these are the things we should encourage and celebrate.

We have got the vaccines. Now it is time to get back to work.

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Mr. BOST. Mace).

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Mr. BOST. I know that he has many comments that are vitally important to this issue.

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Mr. BOST. I thank the gentleman for his comments. I want to thank all of my colleagues who joined me and joined us here tonight. Thank you to my friend Representative Jackie Walorski for cohosting this Special Order.

We all agree that it was necessary for Congress to step up and act quickly to help hardworking Americans laid off or out of work during the widespread pandemic shutdowns. But here we are, three vaccines later, the States are loosening restrictions. We need to refocus on where we are going, on what we are doing, on making sure children go back to school and people go back to work.

I am proud to support Ranking Member Brady's Reopening America by Supporting Workers and Businesses Act. Instead of paying people to stay home, it will allow States to provide back-to-work bonuses and increased funding for reemployment services.

In April's dismal jobs report, which was mentioned earlier, it is an indication we have a long way to go. It is a time that we need to get our economy back on track and our people back to work. Every time we go down the street, if you listen to the people who spoke here tonight, jobs, help wanted, help wanted, help wanted, and no help to be found. Why? Because as good as an intention as we had when we passed the unemployment extensions, Mr. Speaker, what we are doing is we are prolonging this situation where we can actually get back to work. We can take these things off, we can actually be safe going to work. We are being vaccinated. Things are gearing back up.

Let's not go down the path of government entrapment. Let's go back to what America is about: People seeking employment when jobs are there, to bettering their family when jobs are there. Not through government programs, but through the opportunity of actually working every day to provide for their families and to provide their children and grandchildren with opportunities.

We are going to have to do that because we have spent a lot of money this last year, quite often in making sure that our American citizens were taken care of. And rightfully so. But now it is time to go back to work.

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