VA Hospital In Marion, IL

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last week families and businesses across our country finally got some good news. We found out that initial estimates show that our GDP grew at a 3.5-percent rate last quarter and that the Recovery Act created or saved over 1 million jobs across the country, including over 30,000 in my home State of Washington, making us third in the country for job creation.

Those are hopeful signs. But I know many families and many businesses and communities still need help. We have a long way to go before we have fully recovered from the worst economic condition since the Great Depression.

I came out on the floor and spoke twice last week about the urgent need to pass an extension of unemployment insurance that would help over 18,000 people in my home State and millions of Americans across the country. I told the stories about five individuals who had lost their jobs and whose families are now in desperate need of support that the extension would give them to help them stay on their feet--families who right now, as we sit out here and debate this bill, wait for hours and hours for us to get to a final vote, even though we know we have the votes, families who are sitting at the kitchen tables across this country having a very agonizing debate about how to make next month's rent or how to get next week's groceries if their unemployment benefits run out.

Those families do not understand why some of our colleagues are delaying and obstructing our efforts to offer this small measure of financial stability to those families who need it most. These families have been coming to me with their stories, and I am committed to fighting to make sure they have every opportunity to get back on their feet. That is why I am here today to urge my colleagues to support and pass the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009.

I am very proud to be a cosponsor of this bill because it will give our families and businesses in Washington State and across the country the support they need today. This bill will be a lifeline to millions of families, and it will provide tax relief to help our businesses create and save jobs. And it will help extend and expand the homeowners tax credit to continue a badly needed boost to help stabilizing the housing market.

This legislation will help families who need it most by providing every single unemployed worker who has exhausted his or her benefits an additional 14 weeks of support, regardless of what State they live in, and it would extend unemployment to laid-off workers in States that have been hardest hit by the job losses, including Washington State, by 6 weeks.

Last week I told some of the stories that are pouring into my office from unemployed workers. These are workers who are not asking for a handout. They just need a small measure of support as they work to get back on their feet. These stories have continued to come in this week, and I wish to share a couple excerpts from letters people sent me urging me to do everything I can to make sure this bill finally passes.

Bill and Patricia Profitt from Littlerock, WA, e-mailed me saying:

Please act quickly to pass another extension of unemployment benefits. My wife and I are in danger of losing our house and have run out of unemployment. Please help us.

Donna Dettling from Olympia, WA, said:

My extended benefits will run out in 7 weeks. I am a single mother with three boys and I have been trying for months to get work but have been unsuccessful. If the Senate does not come to an agreement soon, we may end up homeless. Can you please do what you can to push this forward?

Then there is Barbara Headrick from Monroe, WA. She wrote to me and said:

Dear Patty, I am desperate for the Senate to pass the emergency unemployment benefits legislation. I cannot find a job, have no income, and am in danger of losing my house as well as my utilities. Please, please, please urge all the Senators to pass this emergency legislation as soon as possible.

Those are just three quick e-mails from thousands of letters I have received from across my home State of Washington. We owe it to these workers, to their families, and to millions more like them to pass this legislation and not continue to delay it so that they can get the support they need.

These men and women who are writing me and stopping me when I am home did not expect to have to ask for help. They had jobs. They felt secure. But now they are spending their days desperately looking for work that is not available. They are worrying about what will happen to them, and they are worrying about their families when their savings are exhausted and their credit cards are maxed out and the bank will not wait any longer for a mortgage payment.

We cannot continue to go hour after hour after hour delaying this when our working families are pushed to the brink by a financial crisis that they did not create but for which they are paying. We need to pass this legislation.

By the way, this bill is going to do a lot more for our families, businesses, and communities. It will expand and extend the successful home buyers tax credit that will allow our families the opportunity to move into homes and make sure that our weakened housing market continues on the road to recovery.

This is a program that has already helped many families purchase their first homes. This bill will extend the $8,000 credit to first-time homebuyers through the end of April 2010 and expand the program providing a $6,500 credit to new purchasers who have lived in their current home for 5 years or more.

These programs will not only help families move into new homes; they will also increase liquidity and provide a shot in the arm to housing markets that still need a lot of support.

I have heard from real estate agents, from homebuilders, from families from every corner of Washington State, and they all tell me they have to have this extension. I received letters from families telling me they want to buy a new home but they cannot close in time to get this credit and they would not be able to afford a new home without it.

Thousands of homebuilders, construction workers, and real estate agents have contacted me telling me how successful this credit has been and how an extension and expansion would create jobs and give the housing market another strong push forward.

This bill will also provide a critical boost to businesses in Washington State by extending their ability to carry back losses they suffered in 2008 or 2009. That is a tax provision that will provide badly needed capital to help our companies avoid layoffs, expand their operations, and create jobs.

We have heard a lot today about this concept of too big to fail. Well, in this time of nationwide economic uncertainty, I believe the millions of families and Main Street businesses that are on the brink are certainly too important to fail, and they deserve every bit of support we can give them to allow them to get back on their feet. So the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 will help bring these families, businesses, and communities back from the precipice.

I urge our colleagues to support and pass this critical legislation. It is surprising to me that we have to wait hour after hour after hour after hour, when we know the votes are there, simply because somehow delaying this bill is some kind of win for whoever is delaying it. It is not a win for Washington families who have to stay awake one more night worrying about how they are going to buy food or pay their mortgages or keep their families intact.

I urge my colleagues to stop the delaying tactics and allow this bill to come to a vote.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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