Unemployment Insurance Extension

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I have come to the floor today, like so many of our colleagues, to talk about the urgent need to pass legislation to extend unemployment insurance. I was encouraged, as I know many of us were, that the Senate voted on Monday to move to this legislation. I really hope that we are able to build on that progress and to pass this critical assistance this week.

Emergency unemployment insurance has always had bipartisan support. Congress has acted eight times since 1958, under congressional leadership and Presidents from both parties, to establish extended benefit programs when the unemployment rate is too high. In fact, as I think a number of my colleagues have said, the program we are currently looking to extend was actually passed when George W. Bush was President, with strong bipartisan support.

It is important that we do not turn our backs on Americans who are struggling to find work right now. We cannot afford the economic consequences of inaction. Failing to renew unemployment benefits will cost us jobs, it will hurt economic growth, it will eliminate a critical lifeline for families who are struggling to make ends meet.

While New Hampshire's unemployment rate is below the national average, if you are out of work, your household is 100 percent unemployed. There are too many families in New Hampshire who have already been hurt by the expiration of these benefits. According to New Hampshire's Governor Maggie Hassan and our State's Employment Security Commissioner George Copadis, the lapse in this critical program has abruptly cut off vital support for about 1,350 individuals in New Hampshire. For each week that extended benefits are not available, an additional 500 to 600 New Hampshire citizens will exhaust regular unemployment insurance coverage.

In total, more than 8,500 citizens of New Hampshire could be hurt over the course of the next year. That would result in a potential loss to our economy of as much as $14 million, according to the State of New Hampshire, and it is a particular issue in certain pockets in the State. There are counties where the unemployment rate is higher, where we have more long-term unemployed who are going to find particular concern about trying to find a job if they do not have any help while they are looking.

I would ask unanimous consent that the letters from New Hampshire's Governor Hassan and from our Commissioner of Employment Security be printed in the Record.

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. As these letters show, the impact of a failure to extend unemployment benefits is very real for thousands of working families in New Hampshire. Of course, that is true, we know, across the country. Failing to pass this legislation will hurt our economic recovery in New Hampshire. It will hurt the Nation's economic recovery.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that the expiration of unemployment insurance will cost the economy 310,000 jobs, which is roughly the equivalent of a single month of job growth. We know from economists from the Congressional Budget Office that each dollar we spend on extending unemployment insurance generates about $1.50 in economic growth. It is one of the best places we can spend public dollars to try to stimulate this economy, to create jobs that can ultimately put people who are unemployed back to work.

Although the unemployment rate has gone down and our economy has shown signs of recovery, we still have a lot more to do. We have to get more people back to work. There is so much on the line, for jobs, for hard-working Americans, and for our economy as a whole. We should pass this legislation on behalf of workers and families in New Hampshire and across this country.

I also want to point out that I have filed an amendment to this unemployment insurance bill. I hope we will have a chance to vote on this amendment. It is identical to a bill I have authored that has 19 cosponsors, including the Presiding Officer, the Military Retirement Restoration Act. This legislation would replace the military retiree and benefit cuts that have been included in the recent budget agreement. It would do that by closing a tax loophole that some corporations use to avoid paying their share of taxes. This provision is designed to address corporations that set up shell entities in tax havens to avoid being considered an American company and paying at the tax rate in the United States. They do that even though these companies are controlled and operated on American soil. It would ensure that those companies pay American tax rates. I think most people would agree that this kind of tax avoidance is unfair, that we should close this tax loophole, and we should do that rather than reducing military retiree benefits.

In addition to the 20 cosponsors of the legislation in the Senate, there is a similar bill in the House that has 46 cosponsors. My idea of how to pay for the military retirement benefit is just one idea. I know there are other bills that have been introduced. I am open to those other solutions. But I hope we can work in a bipartisanship way to replace these cuts before they go into effect in 2 years. It is important that we address this issue for the men and women who have served this country so well, who have put their lives on the line for us. I hope we can do that as part of this legislation when we vote on it. If we are not able to do that, I certainly hope we are going to be able to address this in the near future.

I yield the floor.

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