Date: 2014-01-13
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Let me thank the gentleman from Nevada and Mr. JEFFRIES again both for convening the Congressional Black Caucus. under your leadership and the leadership of our chairwoman. the honorable MARCIA FUDGE. and to be joining here on the floor. at least to date. with our colleague from New York. our colleague from North Carolina and our colleague from New Jersey. which is clearly showing the vast depth of this particular crisis going from South to North and to the far western State of Texas. Let me say to those who are presently unemployed. the 72.000 a week that occurs as we stand on the floor of the House. that you can count on the Members on this floor. the Democratic Members. the Congressional Black Caucus and our good friends on the other side of the aisle. to recognize that this is not a partisan issue but an American issue. Just a few weeks ago. or just last week. in fact. I had in the Houston Chronicle an oped that said the number one job of the House is to extend emergency unemployment aid. The program will help the economy by creating jobs and boosting growth. I think it is important to emphasize and refute some of the negative stigma that comes from those who misunderstand what the unemployment benefitor unemployment insurance. lets use that wordmeans. It means that individuals have actually worked. They are working people. They put into the idea of having an unemployment benefit. and the United States Federal Government determined in times of bad economic times to continue the 47 weeks through an emergency relief. By the way. it was supported by President George Bush in 2008 when he offered to say that these individuals have worked previously. they are looking for work. and they deserve to be able to support their families. Individuals like Anetta Parker. who has been looking for work for 2 years. who is holding up the very letter that she held up at my press conference in Houston to acknowledge that this is a letter that many people are getting in their mailboxes. Not only are they getting these letters. but they are not getting any indication for relief. call United Way. call social services. I can tell you. people who work do not have a tendency to know the local social services. and they are desperate. They get a letter that they are being cut off. In the midst of this I met individuals who are looking for work and said. I am now homeless because those dollars were allowing me to pay week to week for a place to live. a place to clean myself. if you will. to make myself presentable for work. to look for work. which is a requirement of the emergency unemployment insurance benefit. and they are now on the streets. Not only are they on the streets. Mr. HORSFORD. but when I went home on Friday and sat down again at the career and recovery resources to look for or to talk with more individuals. many of these persons are veterans. because veterans are taught to suck it up. and they have not even. in some instances. attempted to get these benefitsto those who would say that everybody just wants to be on the dole. So beyond the unemployment benefits of 1.3 million. there are many others that we have not approached. So it is important that this Special Order is done to reach to the other side of the aisle for the Speaker to put on the floor of the House an emergency 3month extension of unemployment benefits. to not cast aside individuals who have been looking for work and to not ignore the fact that over this cold December. we lost 16.000 jobs in construction. we lost some 11.000 jobs in the movie industry. we lost jobs in the sports industry. and we are continuing to lose jobs because this month was a cold month. So the production of jobs was 78.000. Even though this economy is rebounding and we have had some other good months. this month. the December month. it was 78.000. Dont you think that those individuals who are looking for work were rebuffed by the fact. or were blocked by the fact. that there were jobs that were lost? So I would like to encourage my friends in the other body to quickly find a way of coming together. As my colleagues know. they postponed the votes today. I believe that some of the suggestions being made about pension relief for military persons may be a basis of finding compromise. but I think when we pit the idea of fiscal responsibilities and deficits against individuals having a roof over their head and children having food on the table. it is disgraceful. It is equally disgraceful when people misinterpret the idea of what unemployment benefits are all about. As I wrote this oped. it saddened me. though I believe in the First Amendment. when letters came in response to the oped. and they wanted to ask a question: Why dont these people get a job? Why dont we have a jobs program? That didnt disappoint me. I think that is a good question. But they didnt seem to understand that it was people looking for work who could not find work. It was long lines of people who couldnt find work. They want to work. So I would say to them. this is not a hand out but a helping hand. I expect to introduce soon a training bill that allows individuals who are on unemployment benefits to get a stipend to be able to utilize for Labor Departmentdesignated disciplines of work. to train for work that needs additional workers. So it is not a stipend to go out to your local jobtraining setup that somebody set up. It is actually to have officially documented needs for the particular profession that you are training for. You get your unemployment benefit. you are not cut off. and you get a stipend for that training. That creates jobs. But just to say lets pass various bills. like the Keystone bill. and that is the cause of no jobs is not accurate. But I do think we can support the jobs bill of the President. and we will create jobs. So I want to thank the gentleman for allowing us to come and to be able to highlight that in the cold of the winter there are people on line trying to get work. and that were people on line trying to get work in November and October and September and August and July. because this young lady. Ms. Parker. has been looking for work for 2 years. She is a very competent administrative assistant. along with many others. Veterans have been looking for work. So I would like to say to those I met with on Friday. we will not forget you. We recognize that you are deserving of human dignity and that you want to work. that you have worked. that you are not looking for a handout. and that the unemployment insurance is not a handout. It is an emergency relief for those who have worked. Let us have compassion. Let us have sympathy. Let us care about others. and let us work together to extend the unemployment insurance benefit to provide for the families of America. I thank the gentleman. [From the Houston Chronicle. Jan. 8. 2014]