Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act

Floor Speech

Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, as we begin today's activities, 1.3 million individuals face a harsher reality because Congress failed to extend unemployment insurance benefits. That includes 2 million children and 20,000 veterans who face a more uncertain future because Congress failed to do the right thing.

The moms who attended my Chicagoland job fair don't want an unemployment check more than a job. They do want a Congress that recognizes that any one of us could use a little help when an economic crisis hits and leaves us vulnerable.

The families I represent aren't looking for handouts. They are my friends and neighbors and paid into the unemployment insurance system with the promise that, if times got tough, they would still be able to provide for their families using the benefits they paid for as a bridge over troubled waters.

I am a cosponsor of H.R. 3824, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, because I stand by my friends in tough times. I urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to do the same by passing a bipartisan unemployment insurance extension now.

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