Extending Unemployment Benefits

Floor Speech

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of extending unemployment benefits to the hardworking San Joaquin Valley families of California who continue to search for work during these tough economic times. The current lapse in benefits is unprecedented. Since 1959, the government has never allowed these benefits to expire when the national unemployment rate is above 7.2 percent.

Californians are concerned with providing for their families and putting food on the table, not who scores the most political points in Washington.

Extending unemployment benefits isn't just critical to our Central Valley's workers and communities where unemployment hovers around 20 percent in some of the counties but also to our economy. Every dollar in unemployment benefits creates at least $1.63 in economic activity. That puts money in neighborhood businesses.

Now is the time to focus on middle class families and our economy, not the next election. It's time to pass this measure and to send it to the President for his signature.

Source