Extend Federal Unemployment Insurance

Floor Speech

Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, sometimes you just have to say enough is enough. I stand before you today in the hopes that we can come together and understand that today is that day. Enough is enough.

Federal unemployment insurance must be extended--and extended quickly. It is time. In fact, it is past time. There are now more than 2 million Americans struggling to get some kind of existence in place each day after having this critical lifeline cut off this past December. The number climbs each day.

I could talk to you about the human toll of this disgraceful play of putrid and petty partisan politics, like the 57-year-old woman preparing to live in her car, the 34-year-old mother wondering how she will pay rent and feed the kids at the same time, and the 47-year-old man who made himself a career in manufacturing but lost his job due to layoffs a year ago and now describes himself as ``in a panic.''

These and millions of other Americans, including almost 35,000 in my home State of Missouri alone, are hardworking people who have played by the rules and found themselves out of work through no fault of their own. And now new data shows that some 200,000 of those who have been brushed aside are veterans. They have gone to Iraq. They have gone to Afghanistan. These are men and women we should not throw aside.

Let's stop the harmful and fact-free rhetoric that paints these fellow Americans--our neighbors, our friends, and our veterans--as people trying to game the system, people trying to get something for nothing, people who just ``don't want to work.'' Phooey. Rats. Sheesh. Yecch. It is time for us to act.

The contrary is true. Recipients of unemployment insurance are a very diverse group, with almost half having completed at least some college and almost 5 million of them holding bachelor's degrees or higher. The stereotypes don't work here; and when we stereotype, we move our constituents to corroborate.

These are people for whom the stakes could not be higher. These are people who have worked all or most of their lives and gotten hit--and hit hard--in the recession that ominously hit in 2008. These are people who want to work, spend their days trying to find work, and now are slowly sinking into a financial abyss while we here in Washington play games.

Sometimes you just have to say enough is enough. There are times when we must just put politics aside and act on what is in the best interests of the country.

It is my hope, Mr. Speaker, that this Congress will act--and act quickly.

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