Extension Of Unemployment Benefits
Floor Speech
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last night a number of Senators stayed on the floor until almost midnight--I thank the staff and pages for their endurance and patience.
This was over an issue that was critically important to our Nation. It is an issue which relates to this recession we are in and the fact that literally millions of Americans in every State across America are out of work and doing their very best to find jobs. It is not easy. There are as many as four unemployed workers for every available job. People are taking jobs that pay substantially less than what they are used to earning in the hopes of keeping their family together and weathering this economic storm.
Some of the sacrifices that are being made will literally change lives and families forever. People are losing their homes because of the loss of jobs. Folks are finding their kids have to drop out of college and come home because the families can no longer help them afford to pay for tuition and the expense of higher education. So many families in desperate straits are turning to the food banks in cities across America. As I visit these food banks, they tell me there is a dramatic increase in the number of people who come in looking for the basic food they need to put on the table to keep their families together.
Some of these families have lost their health insurance. It is one of the first casualties of losing a job. Unless you have lived as a father of a sick child without health insurance, you cannot imagine what goes through his mind in that circumstance. It happened to me when I was first married and did not have health insurance. I had a sick baby. My wife and I just prayed we could find the care she needed when we did not have health insurance to cover it.
For millions of Americans, that is not only a threat, it is a reality. When you look at this hardship many Americans are facing, through no fault of their own and despite their heroic efforts to put their lives back on track, I believe it is unthinkable, unforgivable that we would cut off unemployment insurance payments to these people; that we would cut off COBRA payments which help them to pay for their health insurance while they are unemployed.
Yet that is what is going to happen Sunday night. It is because the Senator from Kentucky has objected to extending unemployment insurance payments and COBRA health insurance payments for 30 days. In my State, there are 15,000 people who do not realize this morning but will come to realize Monday morning that their lives have dramatically changed. They are not only out of work and they are struggling to survive, but that one lifeline, that unemployment check that keeps them together, that provides $250 a week so they can get on with life and try to turn the corner, is going to disappear.
You say: Well, why? What is it that has brought us to the point where we
as a nation would cut off help for our own people? The Senator from Kentucky explained last night it is because he wants to balance the budget. He wants to cut the deficit. He is concerned about the debt.
Well, I share his concerns. What was said last night by so many Members on this side of the aisle, which is, for goodness' sake, find a way to express your political views that is not at the expense of helpless people.
That is why so many Members stayed here until almost midnight talking about it. Senator Stabenow from Michigan, what a terrible economic situation in her State. One out of six people in her State is on food stamps. They have had high unemployment for the longest time because of the loss of manufacturing jobs and other employment opportunities.
It is an awful situation, repeated in Rhode Island, where they have one of the highest unemployment rates in the Nation. They were the first in the recession and are struggling to get through it. It is a small State in comparison to Illinois or Michigan. But when Senator Jack Reed and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse came to the floor, they talked about hundreds of people in their State who will be cut off from unemployment checks as of Sunday night because of the objection of one Senator who says we have to learn our lesson about deficits.
The simple fact is, this is an emergency situation and should be treated as such. If the floodwaters were rising in Kentucky or Illinois and people were displaced from their homes, desperate to survive, we would not sit down and do a calculation about whether to send them emergency aid, we would do it because we are a nation that cares and a nation that responds and we believe helpless victims deserve a helping hand. These are helpless victims of the recession, and their helping hand is an unemployment check that will be cut off Sunday night because of the objection of one Senator.
Some came to the floor last night--Senator Corker of Tennessee, whom I respect--and said: I do not think you ought to be doing this. I do not think this is the way the Senate should work, that we should come and renew the unanimous consent request to extend unemployment for 30 days.
I would say to Senator Corker, whom I respect, and Senator Bunning, whom I respect very much: We were caught by surprise last night. We could not believe we would actually have the Senate go home to our home States, to the loving arms of our families, to a relaxing weekend, and know that, Sunday night, unemployment checks were going to be cut off across America for hundreds of thousands of people.
That came as a surprise to me last night. That is why we gathered on the floor and talked about the economy and this issue. We talked about the deficit, and we pointed out to the Senator from Kentucky that he has voted for tax cuts that were not paid for, obviously that added to the Nation's deficit. He has voted for programs not paid for that added to the Nation's deficit.
Yet now he has decided to make his stand, not when it comes to tax cuts for the wealthy but unemployment benefits for the poorest struggling families in America. It is a stark contrast. Last night, we begged him to save this debt debate for a different day and a different issue and please do not victimize these helpless people who are struggling to get by. We were not successful in that effort.
I do not know if the Senator has had a change of heart today. I hope he has. I am going to renew my unanimous consent request that I made last night. I hope we can agree to go forward. I certainly would say to the Senator from Kentucky, we have ample opportunity in the days ahead to debate this deficit and debt, in the budget resolution, in our appropriations process, in virtually every bill that comes before us.
Why did he pick the unemployed families of America, falling behind, losing their homes, struggling to survive, to make his political point about debt and deficit?
One of the Senators said: Oh, in a week or so we will probably send those benefits along. I guess that is true. I hope it is true. We may eat up 3 or 4 days on the floor of the Senate to get it done, instead of instantly doing it this morning, as we can in the process.
In my State, the State of Virginia, the State of Kentucky, there will be unemployed people who will not receive their checks and will go through the anxiety of wondering what happened in Washington that caused them to lose that check they needed so desperately to keep their home, to care for their kids, and to try to turn their lives around and get another job.
That, to me, is an unacceptable approach to governing. It is one I hope we do not do in the future. It is the reason we stayed so late last night to speak to this issue.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4691, a 30-day extension of the provisions which expire on Sunday, February 28: unemployment insurance, COBRA, flood insurance, Satellite Home Viewer Act, highway funding, SBA business loans, and small business provisions of the American Recovery Act, SGR, and poverty guidelines, received from the House and at the desk; that the bill be read three times, passed and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table.
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, earlier this week, the Senator from Kentucky made the same request. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said to the Senator from Kentucky: I will give you a chance to come to the floor with your paid-for amendment, fully debate it, and put it up for a vote.
If you can convince a majority of the Senate to do that, you will prevail.
If you can't, then we will treat this as we have so often, as emergency spending, and proceed to help these unemployed people. The Senator from Kentucky rejected that and said he did not want to bring this matter to the floor for a vote because he might lose. I think it is possible he might lose.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time of the Senator has expired.
Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent for 2 additional minutes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. If he has a way to pay for this and wants to offer it as an amendment on the floor, we have given him the opportunity to do that. But for him to say he wants to dictate how this is going to be paid for from sources that, frankly, many of us believe are not realistic in any way whatsoever--he wanted to take the money from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act that has already been committed to construction projects and to tax cuts across America; he wants to take that money and reduce tax cuts for working families--I would vote against that. I think that is very shortsighted and would hurt the economy rather than help it. If he wants to make across-the-board cuts in appropriations bills, he ought to have an opportunity to offer that amendment, and he has had that opportunity. But he doesn't choose to do that. He wants to be guaranteed he will win. There are no guarantees you can win.
There is a guarantee, because of his objection, that hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans will lose. Come Sunday night, they will have their checks cut off. To be told people have a beating heart and care about unemployed people and to cut off their unemployment checks just doesn't track. I don't think it is any comfort to these families to believe you care, but you are going to cut off their checks anyway. What point are we making--how hard we can be, how tough we can be? At what expense? The most vulnerable families in America are going to suffer because of this political decision by one Senator. I think that is unfortunate. I am sorry he has objected.
I promised I would not renew the request this morning, but we will be back. We will try to get this done. I say those families, hang in there. After the politicians are finished with speeches and debates, America will not give up on you. It is going to be tough for a while, while we work out this political difference, but, unfortunately, that reflects the Senate and where it is today.
I yield the floor.
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