Extension of Unemployment Insurance Benefits

Floor Speech

EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS -- (Senate - October 20, 2009)

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise again to urge my colleagues, particularly my colleagues on the Republican side, to put aside their amendments so we can move immediately and pass an extension of unemployment insurance benefits.

We are facing a crisis of employment throughout this country. We are seeing people who are exhausting their benefits. The need is now. The time is now. We must act now.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have already exhausted their unemployment benefits, including 3,500 Rhode Islanders. Unfortunately, this number is growing every day.

These people are out of work, without an employment check or paycheck, with jobs remaining scarce.

It is important to recognize how we got here. A $236 billion Federal surplus accumulated in the 1990s under President Clinton and handed to President Bush evaporated in 2000 due to President Bush's unsound and excessive tax cuts which cost nearly $1.8 trillion and failed to spur sustainable economic expansion and were targeted to the richest Americans, not middle-income Americans. Indeed, most working Americans actually ended up less well off as the median income for families fell by $2,000 from the year 2000 to the year 2007. Let me say that again. In the period of the Bush administration, with the huge tax cuts which he proposed as being the key to our economic recovery and our economic progress, incomes of middle-income Americans fell, they didn't rise. Incomes of the very richest Americans rose dramatically and continue to rise.

In addition, the Bush administration praised the doctrine of inadequate supervision of our financial markets, a lack of adequate risk assessment by financial institutions throughout not only the United States but the world, and they combined that laissez-faire attitude toward regulation of Wall Street with very costly and unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result of these profligate policies, President Obama inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit upon taking office. This is on top of an unprecedented set of circumstances facing our Nation both at home and abroad--the virtual collapse of the financial markets in September, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With regard to Afghanistan, the same inattention the Bush administration showed toward regulation they showed toward our efforts in Afghanistan, and today we face a crisis of the first order there.

Today, we are in a serious situation. Through decisive action, which I will credit began under President Bush last September but particularly carried out through the stimulus package, we are responding to this economic crisis. But economists of all persuasions tell us we are in a very difficult and challenging moment. Unlike the 1980s and prior economic downturns, they do not expect a traditional V-shaped recovery--a quick decline and then a fairly rapid ascent to normal economic performances. In fact, economists are predicting that job gains will not be manifest until next year. It always seems to be the situation that employment numbers lag behind other indicators,
including economic growth and availability of credit, and this lag is particularly challenging today because it means people are out of work and unfortunately may stay out of work into next summer and beyond.

There have been some signs of recovery. The last time the Dow hit 10,000 was October 2008, and we recently have seen it headed up in crossing 10,000. It is no longer in a meltdown, but we are far from a full, sustainable recovery.

Wall Street is one indication, but it is not the indication most Americans look to in terms of their own family's welfare. The most important aspect of a family's welfare is steady, dependable, rewarding employment, and that is the challenge we face today. People are concerned about jobs. Many Rhode Islanders with jobs are coping with reductions in hours and earnings, while those without jobs are tirelessly looking for work in a labor market that is worsening, and jobs simply aren't there.

We have a particularly dire situation in Rhode Island. There are 74,000 unemployed in my State. That is a big number, but it is much bigger in terms of my State of Rhode Island. We are the smallest State in the Union. With a population between 900,000, and 1 million, 74,000 unemployed people is a huge amount. It translates to 13 percent unemployment. If you look at the underemployed, if you look at those who have dropped out of the labor force, it is probably much higher. If you look at subcategories--teenagers, for example, much higher; minority communities, much higher. As a result, there is a growing frustration and too often a desperation gripping the people of Rhode Island.

A key component of stabilizing the economy is ensuring that Americans without jobs can continue to support their families, and that is at the heart of our unemployment compensation program. This compromise legislation which I helped craft along with Leader Reid, Chairman Baucus, Senator Shaheen from New Hampshire, Senator Durbin, and others, strikes a careful balance. It is completely offset. It helps unemployed workers across the country by providing all States with an additional 14 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits. It also continues the historical precedent and sound policy of recognizing that workers in the hardest hit States such as Rhode Island have even greater challenges finding work and are in the greatest need of assistance. Rhode Island and other States with unemployment rates at or above 8.5 percent would get an additional 6 weeks of benefits, for a total of 20 weeks. This provision will help more than 25 States, including South Carolina, Tennessee, and Michigan.

Unfortunately, the other side of the aisle, instead of permitting us to take up the bill quickly, is blocking legislation to extend unemployment insurance.

First they argued that they needed to see a CBO score, even though this legislation has been scored by CBO and, again, it is fully offset. It is quite obvious it is fully offset.

Now my colleagues on the other side are delaying passage of this measure by offering a range of amendments that are not related to unemployment benefits. It is my understanding that the junior Senator from Nebraska is offering an amendment with respect to ACORN funding. This amendment not only has nothing to do with extending the benefits to jobless Americans, but it has already been considered on several occasions. In fact, I joined the Senator in passing his amendment to the Transportation appropriations bill just the other week.

Another of our colleagues wants to extend the $8,000 new homeowner tax credit which costs an estimated $16.7 billion. This is a worthy effort, but in the context of trying to get aid immediately to unemployed workers, I don't think it is the best use of our time.

It is counterintuitive to delay an extension of unemployment insurance with these types of amendments. Again, the homeowner tax credit is something I support. It is something we should do. It is something we should consider paying for also. But now is the time to deal with the most obvious crisis: people without work, running out of benefits, facing a desperate situation. They are falling behind in mortgage payments, accelerating another aspect of our problem--the crisis in foreclosures. They need this extension. Debating amendments that send messages but don't provide help for working Americans is not what we should be doing.

I wish to underscore the urgency we are facing. People are exhausting their benefits. They are receiving nothing. They still have to provide for their families. In Rhode Island, 3,500 people would benefit immediately from a Federal extension, a majority of whom have already exhausted their benefits going back, in some cases, several months. Thousands more Rhode Islanders will see their benefits end unless we act. These families need this help to stay afloat, to pay their bills, to stay in their homes. It is truly ironic that the Republican Party is delaying an extension of unemployment insurance to the middle class, yet in the past they have had no problem supporting huge tax cuts skewed toward the wealthiest Americans.

It is my hope we can work together. This is not a Rhode Island problem alone. It is not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem. I have been joined--and I wish to thank my colleague from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, for working on this, because South Carolina is feeling the effects of this recession. Every part of this country, with very few exceptions, is feeling this problem. I again urge that we pass this measure.

In addition, we should recognize that there is one other aspect we should consider; strengthening and expanding work-share programs, which allow employers to cut-back hours rather than lay people off if the employer maintains pension and health benefits. In turn, employees receive a proportionate unemployment insurance benefit for those hours reduced. It has been very effective in Rhode Island--averting nearly 5,000 layoffs in the first eight months of this year.

I urge immediate consideration of this extension, and I hope we can pass it this week.

With that, I yield the floor.

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