Unemployment Insurance

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this afternoon is a historic moment in the history of this great Chamber. Our beloved and now departed Senator from West Virginia, Robert C. Byrd, will be succeeded in office with a temporary appointment from West Virginia, and we will swear in his successor at 2:15 this afternoon. A few minutes later, the Senate will take up a historic measure. It is a question of whether we should provide unemployment benefits to the millions of Americans who have lost their job, through no fault of their own, and are victims of this recession.

In my home State, 115,000 people have fallen off the unemployment rolls while we have debated whether to extend unemployment benefits. Across America, 1.2 million Americans have lost basic unemployment benefits.

What do these benefits mean to these families out of work? Literally, bread on the table; literally, whether the lights go on when you flick the switch; literally, whether they have a roof over their heads.

This did not use to be a political issue. We did not get involved in a partisan debate about unemployment benefits when it came to other Presidents. But under this President, Barack Obama, the Republicans have decided to take a stand and the stand says this: When it comes to people who are victims of this recession, we will not help them unless we find some way to add a new tax or cut some spending in other areas.

That was never the standard before. We viewed this as an economic emergency, which we responded to, to get America back on its feet.

Those who are involved in watching our budget and our deficit and our economy, such as Bob Bixby, the president of the Concord Coalition, puts it very clearly. Mr. Bixby says:

As a deficit hawk, I wouldn't worry about extending unemployment benefits. It is not going to add to the long-term structural deficit, and it does address a serious need. I just feel like unemployment benefits wandered onto the wrong street corner at the wrong time, and now they are getting mugged.

That is Bob Bixby of the Concord Coalition.

What about David Brooks? I respect David Brooks, a conservative Republican writer but a thinker. Here is what he says, in writing in the New York Times last week about unemployment benefits:

Well, there's a few short-term things you can do [about this economy]. First, extend unemployment insurance; that's a foolish place to begin budget-balancing.

David Brooks knows what we all know: a dollar handed to an unemployed person is spent almost immediately, recirculates through the economy, and creates $1.60 in economic activity. It is the best way to create more consumer demand--more demand for goods and services and greater opportunities for jobs, while it provides the basic necessities of life for those who are out of work.

But when it comes to this issue, the Republicans have said: No, we are going to take a stand on the deficit and we are going to take a stand when it comes to unemployed people because the deficit is a serious issue.

I agree with them; it is a serious issue. But last week, the Republican minority whip, JON KYL of Arizona, was asked: Well, let me ask you about tax cuts for the wealthiest people in America. If you cut taxes, doesn't that add to the deficit? It is hard to argue that it doesn't.

They said to JON KYL of Arizona: So you don't want to add to the deficit; you don't want to make it worse, so we would have to pay for or find some new revenue or some cut for tax cuts; correct? Senator Kyl said: No; tax cuts don't count when it comes to the deficit.

So here is the double standard. The double standard says when we are helping unemployed people in America, it is a deficit problem, but if we are giving tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America, it is not a deficit problem. That kind of double standard is fundamentally unfair. When it comes to unemployed Americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, Americans literally faced with living in their cars, the Republicans tell us: Sorry, we can't help; the deficit just requires us to say no to unemployed Americans. But when it comes to wealthy Americans who are living comfortably, Americans who can take a tax cut and buy a new car, the Republicans say that is all right; we can give those tax cuts to the wealthy; it doesn't hurt the deficit. It makes no sense.

Why are we in this situation today? We are here because of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. This President inherited it from Republican Bush economic policies that failed America, and in that failure the victims can be found in every community across our great Nation. I met with three of them in Chicago on Sunday. We sat down and talked about what life is like when you are out of work for more than a year--more than a year.

One was a veteran, a man who had served in our Coast Guard and worked for years and years in the advertising business in Chicago. He has MS and now he has no paycheck and now he has no health insurance. If the VA will not cover some of his needs, he is on his own.

Another was a young woman. She was a woman who worked hard and had a good job and lost it a year ago but has been looking ever since. Every day, she is on the Internet, answering the ads, doing everything she can.

She said: I am almost afraid to come to this press conference. I don't want my landlord to see me and realize my unemployment is over. I am 2 months away from living in my car.

The third was a man who had been out of work for over a year; a productive, good man who was clearly broken by this experience but determined to keep trying. He was cut off from unemployment benefits by a Republican Party which will not join us in what has been a bipartisan effort under Presidents, both Republican and Democrat.

This afternoon we have a chance to stand for those people in Illinois, in New Hampshire, in Maryland, and in Kentucky. We have a chance to say we as an American family stand together, we care for our own, we help our own. We are going to help them get back to a life of productive activity, paying taxes, and retiring our deficit.

We remember on the Republican side not that long ago under President Bush when the national debt of America doubled under President Bush, from $5 trillion worth of accumulated debt in the history of the United States of America to the day when President Bush left office and the national debt was $12 trillion. It more than doubled with the budgets offered by President Bush under his administration. In those days, Vice President Cheney used to say: Deficits don't count.

Well, they count.

We are going to bring ourselves out of this deficit crisis, but first we are going to get this economy moving, create the jobs and put people back to work. Until we do that, the deficit just gets worse.

This afternoon we have a chance to give a helping hand to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and need just a little assistance from us as a nation so they can move forward and help this Nation move forward again.

I yield the floor.

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