Date: 1982-08-05
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. I rise today. as cosponsor. to support the amendment that has been described by the distinguished Senator from Ohio . This amendment urges the conferees on the tax bill to include in their conference report language creating a supplemental unemployment benefits program for those who have exhausted all other such benefits for which they are eligible. and insure that those States which have "triggered off" the extended benefits program will be reinstated. The economic statistics irrefutably demonstrate that this Nation entered into the current recession in July of last year. Ironically. this recession. that began 6 months after the current administration took office. officially commenced with a few days of enactment by Congress of the administrations "supply side" economic program. The record is clear: Since that day. the recession has only grown more serious. Despite almost daily claims by administration spokesmen that "we are about to turn the corner" toward economic progress. we remain mired in a national economic tragedy. Voodoo economics has extracted a terrible price in human misery. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the unemployment statistics. In the Labor Departments report last month. 101/ million people were counted as unemployed. This. of course. does not count the rapidly increasing number of "discouraged workers" who have failed in their efforts to find work for so long that they simply have given up looking. there are over 1.5 million of these. Nor does it count the several hundred thousand workers who have been forced to work only part time because they are not able to secure full time work. These are the people who are the most serious casualties of the current recession. Mr. President. If these national statistics are dismal. statistics for certain population groups and some of the hardest hit cities and states are cataclysmic. The last StatebyState figures. for May. show Michigan with 14.3 percent unemployment. Washington State has 12.3 percent. Some cities have rates above 25 percent. In my own State of West Virginia I regret to say that the unemployment rate in June. as calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor. was 12.3 percent. Manufacturing jobs there. in particular. dropped to their lowest point since the Great Depression. What has been done by the administration and the Congress to help these people? I am distressed to say that the administration proposed and the Congress accepted billions of dollars in reductions in unemployment insurance benefits within the Reconciliation Act of 1981. And the unemployed have felt only the tip of that icebergbecause some of the harshest reductions will not take effect until late September. when hundreds of thousands of persons will lose eligibility for extended benefits. The statutory changes last year already have eliminated a number of States from the extended benefits program despite the fact that they have unemployment rates that are high by any definition. Other high unemployment States will be picked off in coming weeks. Their jobless workers who cannot find Jobs in our economic quagmire then are left without any assistance whatsoever when they exhaust the 26 weeks of regular benefits. How does this record contrast with the way in which previous administra. tions and Congresses dealt with recessions when unemployment was higher than normalalthough considerably lower than today? In 1971. Mr. President. there were 5.1 million unemployed persons. and the unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent. In 1974. the next significant recession. the unemployment rate reached 7.2 percent and 6.6 million persons were out of work. At each of those times. a temporary program of supplemental benefits was enactedincreasing from 39 weeks to 52 weeks. and even 65 weeks at one point. the period during which the unemployed are eligible for unemployment benefits. On May 18 of this year. with 21 original cosponsors. I introduced a bill to establish a temporary supplemental benefits program. S. 2542. Although it is not the ultimate solution to the problem or unemployment. I think it is an essential step that a compassionate nation must take when a tenth of its work force has been idled by a recesssion. What has happened in the 2 months that have passed since then? Unemployment has risen even further. Thousands more people have.exhausted their unemployment benefits. And nothingabsolutely nothinghas been done with the bill I introduced or with any similar measure here in the Senateexcept that the Finance Committee has held 1 day of hearingh here in Washington and 1 day of field hearings on this issue. The House Ways and Means Committee. on the other hand. favorably reported a bill such as this twice. The Finance Committees hearings focused attention on the problem of unemployment and the desperate need for Congress to act to establish a supplemental benefits program and to care for the problem of high unemployment States losing eligibilityto participate in extended and supplemental programs. But those hearings. and the testimony I and others offered. did not provide so much as a penny of badly needed assistance to even one unemployed persop. I am very troubled by the fact that the administration last week testified that it was opposed unequivocally to making such changes because it would be. and I quote. "Inequitable. illtimed. and costly." Since that testimony. we have been treated to a spectacle in the press where one administration spokesman first says the administration is reconsidering its opposition. then another says "there has been no change" in our position. then yet another says the administration. and I quote. "is woiking with the appropriate congressional committees." close quote. on the problem. How bad does the unemployment situation have to get before the administration thinks it is bad enough to do something about? How many more millions of persons must lose their jobs. and lose their unemployment benefits. before the majority in the Senate concludes that we must do something? How much longer must we wait? It Is for this reason. Mr. President. that I am cosponsoring the amendment now before this body. and urge my colleagues to support it. I believe it is essential that we obtain an ironclad assurance for unemployed people and their families throughout the Nation that the Senate . will address these problemsand will do so this year. I believe we have nothing short of an obligation to take real steps to provide real help to the unemployed people in this country who daily are lsing their homes. their life savings. and their selfrespect. The Senate must act on supplemental benefits legislation and on legislation to assure the unemployed in high unemployment States will be eligible for the extended and supplemental assistance that is available. We must act promptly. But recognizing that we will not be able to take final action today on measures to accomplish these objectives. we must explore every possible legislative avenue to insure that those who are unemployed through no fault of their own are treated fairly.