Unemployment Insurance Extension

Floor Speech

Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to extend the critical unemployment insurance lifeline to the 1.3 million Americans who have already lost coverage.

Tragically, another 1.9 million Americans are set to lose benefits over the first 6 months of this year if we do not act. In California alone, over 214,000 people have already lost their unemployment coverage, including 19,000 people in San Diego County and 3,500 people in Imperial County.

Approximately 326,000 more Californians stand to lose their coverage in the first 6 months of 2014. With unemployment unacceptably high, now is not the time to take money out of the pockets of those who are struggling.

For jobless Americans, unemployment benefits are used to purchase basic lifeline needs like food and shelter and immediate necessities. The time is clicking. Let's do the right thing.

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