Progressive Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be here on behalf of the Progressive Caucus today for the Progressive Caucus Special Order hour. We want to talk about the need to extend unemployment benefits in this country.

Since the end of December, millions of Americans have lost their extended unemployment benefits and are struggling just to get by in this economy.

We have had two really positive developments this week. One, the House Democrats have an initiative, led by Representative Brad Schneider of Illinois, to do a discharge petition, which is a procedural motion to force the leadership of this body to let us vote on extending unemployment benefits, which it refuses to do.

We have to get 218 signatures--a majority of the House--to sign the discharge petition. If that happens, we can force a vote and make sure that people who have lost their benefits since the end of December get their benefits.

That is the first important thing that has happened.

The second important thing is, today, just this afternoon, it was announced there is a bipartisan agreement in the Senate by several senators to make sure that we can extend benefits through the month of May of this year.

We need to do everything possible not only to make sure that the Senate passes that, but to make sure that this House takes up that action. Because if we don't, millions of people--and many more every single week--will not get access to unemployment benefits.

So the Progressive Caucus is here today to highlight this issue and to raise awareness and explain why it is so important that we pass these benefits--and we pass them now--on behalf of the millions of people in this country that need those.

I am joined by several of my colleagues here today. I would like to make sure that they have a chance to talk about the unique situations in their area and why this is so important.

I would first like to yield to my colleague from the great State of Oregon, Representative Suzanne Bonamici.

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Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Representative Bonamici. I am sorry to hear about your constituent losing housing.

For the State of the Union in this very Chamber, I brought a constituent of mine who had lost their benefits. Rather than be foreclosed on, they put their home up for sale. They are still looking for work.

It is a situation happening all too often. There is an article in today's Huffington Post talking about the number of people who are being evicted because they can no longer pay their rent or mortgage simply because of the loss of benefits.

Thank you for sharing that story, and thank you for your work on behalf of Oregon.

I would also like to yield to my colleague from California, Representative Jared Huffman, who would like to talk a little bit about the problem of extending unemployment benefits.

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Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Representative Huffman, for all the work on behalf of your constituents in northern California. I appreciate your words and sharing the story of your constituent.

Again, 72,000 people every single week will lose benefits until this Congress acts, real people in California, Oregon, and real people in the State of Illinois.

Next it is my privilege to yield time to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider), the person who led the initiative on behalf of the House Democrats, led the initiative to discharge the bill so that we could force a vote in this House to ensure that everyone across the country and in the State of Illinois can get the benefits they need so they can continue to get by to find work.

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Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much. You deserve a lot of credit for hitting the ground running in Congress. Thank you so much for representing the people of Massachusetts so very ably and defending the unemployment benefits that we need to extend.

This is something that--the Progressive Caucus, earlier this week, released our budget, and our budget is the Better Off Budget, to make sure that people are better off, their families, they have access to opportunity for their families.

That budget offered extending the benefits to the full 99 weeks. So the Progressive Caucus was there from the very beginning to make sure that we can get these benefits extended for every single American, the 2 million Americans, including 40,000 people in the State of Wisconsin, that they can get these benefits.

We are very proud that the Progressive Caucus looked

at this as a priority, and that is why so many Members tonight were here to discuss it.

It is interesting, I am going to read a couple of quotes from people that you wouldn't expect to hear coming out of the Progressive Caucus.

One is a quote from someone back in 1983, someone that often gets quoted in this Chamber, but usually by people on the other side of the aisle, former President Ronald Reagan. His quote was: ``Unemployment insurance is a lifeline that extends to millions of Americans.'' A lifeline. That is Ronald Reagan saying that unemployment insurance is a lifeline to the Americans who need it. He got it, in 1983.

Now, let me read another quote. In the year 2002, another person that people on this side of the aisle don't quote too often, former President George W. Bush, this is what he said: ``These Americans rely on their unemployment benefits. They need our assistance in these difficult times, and we cannot let them down.''

We cannot let them down. That is from President George W. Bush. These are two Republican leaders who understood that unemployment compensation is not a political toy.

It is not something about brinksmanship. It is the demand that we need to make sure that people who pay into the system, who have worked hard and played by the rules all their lives, have that lifeline when they need it because they have put in their dues. They have worked hard, and now, through no fault of their own, they are out of work and looking for work. We should be able to extend those benefits. So that is exactly what we are here to talk about tonight.

Forty thousand people in my home State of Wisconsin, and more every week, are losing their benefits because this Congress has refused to act up to now.

Now, they still can either act through the discharge petition the Democrats have put forth, they can sign the discharge petition to make sure we can get a vote in this body, or we can hope that the Senate does pass this bipartisan deal just from this afternoon, come to this House, and see that we do the right thing here and extend the benefits so that 72,000 people each and every week don't continue to lose their benefits.

This costs the economy. It was mentioned earlier, but it has been estimated, just in January and February alone, we have cost the economy $3 billion by not extending these benefits, and that is more than $51 million in my home State of Wisconsin, just during the months of January and February.

Folks, we need to make sure these benefits are passed, not just for the families struggling, but for our economy that is also struggling. We are coming back, but we can't keep putting roadblocks in front of our economy, things like this, that stop unemployment benefits for all too many Americans.

Now, it also is estimated that this will cost the economy 240,000 jobs this year alone by not extending the benefits, 240,000 jobs.

So here we are trying to bring the economy back, and by not doing the right thing, by not extending the unemployment benefits, we are going to cost 240,000 jobs in this country, on top of the people now who don't have benefits.

Now, you heard some stories tonight from people who talked about constituents, telling their very real stories about what this means to them.

Well, let me tell you about a constituent I had who came in this very body, and I quickly referenced it before: Brian Krueger of Mount Horeb, a hardworking person, a steamfitter.

As we know, the construction industry, when the economy gets a cold, the construction industry gets pneumonia. That is just the way it happens. It dries up even more. So people aren't back to work yet in this industry.

This is a hardworking person who was working as a steamfitter, trying to find work. His benefits were cut off at the end of December, and he is struggling to get by, looking for work each and every single day.

He even put his home up for sale so that it wouldn't be foreclosed on, just as he is trying get by, someone who has played by the rules and worked hard each and every single day.

Today there is an article in the Huffington Post, Mr. Speaker, and I am going to read a little bit from that. The headline was: ``Some Jobless Facing Eviction After Loss of Benefits.''

These are the very real stories that you were just hearing a little bit earlier tonight. Let me tell some more of these stories, and I am going to read directly from The Huffington Post article:

Craig Bruce, 45, told The Huffington Post that he and his wife were evicted Tuesday from their apartment in California. He said they're fighting the eviction in court, but they spent Tuesday night in a motel room and bunked with family Wednesday.

``I can't get a job. Either I'm over-qualified or somebody else is closer and they don't have to pay them any moving fees to take the job,'' he told the Huffington Post.

Bruce, a gulf war veteran, lost his quality assurance analyst job at an engineering company in the fall of 2012. He said his unemployment's been hard on him and his wife, who is still looking for work in quality assurance.

``There's been a lot of depression on my end,'' he said. ``She's scared. She's terrified right now.''

That is a real story of a real person who has worked hard and had a job for many years who, because of the economy, is out of work and can't get the benefits. And the result of this body not acting, the result has been he has been evicted from his home as of Tuesday.

That is wrong. That is not America. That is not the way we should be acting.

Now, I want to yield some time to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), another colleague of mine, someone who has been a fighter for

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