Payroll Tax Cut Conference Report

Floor Speech

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep concerns with the recently released conference report by the Payroll Tax Cut Conference Committee. While I am pleased that enacting this conference report will stop a tax hike on middle class families by extending the Payroll Tax Cut through the end of the year, I strongly oppose pairing this must-pass provision with legislation that will slash the number of available weeks of unemployment benefits for American workers. I also find it deeply troubling that the text of legislation cutting unemployment benefits for millions of Americans only became available for public review less than 24 hours before a vote, despite the pledge by House Republicans to make bills publicly reviewable for 72 hours before a vote.

Republicans are forcing an unfair choice between tax cuts for the middle class and fully maintaining the safety net for unemployed workers. This is not a choice Congress should have to make, or that the American public should accept, especially when House Republicans in their Pledge to America promised to ``end the practice of packaging unpopular bills with `must-pass' legislation to circumvent the will of the American people'' and to ``advance major legislation one issue at a time.''

The long-term unemployment crisis and the need for a full extension of unemployment benefits deserve Congress's full attention. This is why I led 70 of my colleagues in writing the Chairs of the conference committee along with House and Senate Leadership to urge them to include a full extension of unemployment benefits though the end of this year. While our economy is showing signs of real recovery with 23 consecutive months of job growth, the fact remains that our nation is experiencing an unprecedented long-term unemployment crisis.

Unemployment benefits are a proven lifeline to families that they rely on to help pay for necessities such as rent, groceries, and utilities. Expansions to the unemployment insurance program enacted in the Recovery Act and subsequent legislation in 2009 and 2010 kept over 3 million Americans out of poverty in 2010, including over 900,000 children.

Unfortunately, the harm that cuts to federal unemployment benefits make to working families is amplified when states, such as Michigan, enact legislation slashing state unemployment benefits. Last year, Governor Snyder signed House Bill 4408 into law. While this legislation included a necessary technical fix to preserve Michigan's access to the federal Extended Benefits (EB) program, it paired this minor change with a harmful and misguided reduction in state unemployment benefits from 26 to 20 weeks, the lowest in the country. Not only does this cut 6 weeks of state benefits, more importantly it triggers a proportional reduction in federal benefits.

Under the Payroll Tax Cut Conference Report, this 6 week change to state benefits will result in Michigan giving up between 11 and 14 weeks of 100% federally funded benefits this year and Michigan's unemployed workers losing access to more weeks of federal benefits than any state in the nation.
Our economy is moving in the right direction and we can't afford to jeopardize middle class families' livelihoods and our recovery by risking the expiration of the Payroll Tax Cut, but we certainly cannot afford to ignore the long-term unemployment in Michigan and across the United States.

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