Waiving Requirement of Clause 6(a) of RULE XIII with Respect to Consideration of Certain Resolutions and Providing for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules
Floor Speech
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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in full support of this emergency legislation that will restore the safety net to millions of American families. Those families have been desperately waiting for this relief since June. Their faith in us had been tested, but today, I am pleased to say we can extend them the help that they need.
My colleagues have heard me speak of the legendary mayor of Boston, James Michael Curley. A truly gifted orator.
Curley spoke with great empathy about the forgotten man, those individuals who for whatever reason have found themselves outside of the mainstream of economic life. He also would suggest that, in simplicity, that the great ally of civilization was a full stomach. And we need to be reminded of that with the grim economic statistics that America is currently witnessing.
Now, also another very pertinent reminder here that I think that we all ought to recall: in October of 2008, in record time this House voted to come to the aid of Wall Street. It didn't take us long, with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to keep standing many of those institutions that helped create the problem that we find ourselves currently in.
Is that relevant today? There are millions of people across this country who have simply found themselves without work. What does that do to an individual who has spent a career, and after 30 years finds the job is gone? And we treat them as though they are simply a statistic after perhaps they served us in an honorable manner in Vietnam, or currently in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or other theaters around the world?
America's about building community, Mr. Speaker. America's about a place where nobody's to be abandoned and nobody's to be left behind. The great bounty of God's work has been to ensure that most people in America have shelter and food. This opportunity to extend unemployment benefits for the American people ought to meet this moment.
I urge adoption.
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