Extension of Unemployment Benefits

Floor Speech

EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS -- (Senate - October 27, 2009)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last week I spoke on the floor about the urgent need to pass an extension of unemployment insurance that would help 18,000 people from the State of Washington and millions of Americans across the country. I came here and told the story of three Washington State families who have lost their jobs in the most difficult time since the Great Depression and who desperately need the support that an extension would give them to get back on their feet. Unfortunately, despite the hard work of many of my colleagues on the floor, this small measure of financial stability has been delayed to families across the country who need it the most, families who right now, as we debate about whether we will get to the bill, are having a much more agonizing debate at home about how to make next month's rent or even next week's grocery budget if their unemployment runs out.

For these families, this bill will provide real help. It provides every single unemployed worker who has exhausted his or her benefits, regardless of the State they live in, an additional 14 weeks of support. It extends unemployment to laid off workers in States hardest hit by job losses, including my home State of Washington, by 6 weeks. It makes critical changes to help more families, like making sure an additional $25 per week in benefits that Congress included in the recovery act doesn't count against someone who is seeking food stamps.

Washington State workers and Americans across the country have been hurt through no fault of their own. They are out there every day looking for work. While we are seeing some progress on the economic front, for many of them the job market is still discouraging. Unemployment is now at 9.8 percent. That is a 26-year high. Since this recession began back in December of 2007, over 7.4 million people have lost their jobs, and the 15 million Americans who are trying to find jobs are searching for an average of 6.5 months before something comes through for them.

While those statistics clearly point out the need for this legislation, the stories behind those statistics are even more of a call to action. Last week, I told of the stories that have been pouring into my office from people who are unemployed in my home State of Washington. These are workers who are not asking for a handout; they are just asking for a small measure of support as they work very hard to try to get back on their feet. Today, I wish to share a couple more stories from the hundreds that have come into my office over the past few days urging me to do everything I can to get this bill passed.

I heard from a woman named Loretta Messick. She lives in Auburn, WA. She sent me a message just yesterday.

She told me she has been working for more than 25 years, but she was recently laid off for the first time ever in her career. She said she is desperately looking for work, but she is not sure she is going to be able to find any before her benefits run out. She is working with her bank, she told me, to try and adjust her mortgage payments, but she told me that if unemployment runs out, she fears her family is very much in danger of losing their home.

Loretta is not alone. I also have a story from a woman named Patricia Obrist. She lives in Renton, WA. Patricia and her husband both had jobs in the construction industry--good jobs, she told me--but they were laid off when business slowed down for the companies they worked for. She told me she has only 8 weeks of unemployment benefits left and then, she said, she is going to have to start dropping expenses such as health care, the car payment, their mortgage. She asked me for just a little more time for her to find a job and to give her a chance to avoid losing everything she has worked so hard for.

For Loretta, for Patricia, for their families, and millions more like them, these questions haunt them every day: What will we do if support runs out? Where will we go when our savings are exhausted, when the credit card payments can no longer be met? What do we do when the bank will not wait any longer for a mortgage payment? Whom do we turn to?

In a time of national crisis, it is our job to make sure we are answering those questions. We can, by helping to provide a bridge to financial stability. We cannot sit on the sidelines. Doing so would only compound the problems we already face. More families will be pushed into bankruptcy, more homes will be foreclosed upon, more people will lose their health care, and less progress will then be made on the road to financial recovery for all of us. We can't sit by as working families are pushed to the brink by a financial crisis they did not create but they are paying for.

I hope all our colleagues listen to the voices of their constituents and join us in passing an unemployment extension that makes sure the struggles of America's laid-off workers are not ignored. This bill could not come at a more crucial time.

I wish to point out that these benefits would mean very little if we don't quickly get them into the hands of the people who need it most. The people of our State workforce agencies, people such as the Employment Security Department in my home State, are critical to making that happen. Despite the increasing demand, they have been working tirelessly to serve unemployed claimants, and I know this time will not be any different. So I wish to take a second to applaud them for their efforts to make sure these funds are distributed as quickly as possible to eligible claimants.

I appreciate all those who have been working hard to bring the unemployment extension bill to the floor of the Senate. I urge us to act now. We should not block this with any other efforts, even though many of them are important. Our families are struggling. We cannot afford to see anybody else lose their health care or their home or their car or their financial stability. Let's pass this unemployment extension and then move on to continuing the other important work that comes before the Senate.

I thank the Chair. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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