Date: 2014-02-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I do believe that we in this country have an obligation. commitment. and dutyand just simply out of friendshipto be concerned about the American people in the many ways that they come to this Congress or to their Members of Congress or to their elected officials. After contributing over the years to make America great. when they are in their time of need. it is most appropriate for us to respond. It is now going on almost a year that we have not responded to hardworking Americans who. over the years. have contributed taxes. Maybe some of them are veterans who served in the United States military and are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. and now in their time of need we are fiddling and dillydallying. Unfortunately. we are doing so because our friends on the other side of the aisle cannot recognize that. but for the grace of God. there go I. No. these individuals are not standing in line to get unemployment insurance. They are standing in line to apply for jobs. Because the people who are eligible for unemployment insurance are individuals who have worked most every day of their life. but. unfortunately. they have found in times of economic upswings and downswings. maybe because of their training or maybe because of being a recent veteran. that they are not able to get a job immediately. This Congress has delayed over and over again where our friends on the other side of the aisle and those Republicans in the other body claim that they cannot offer one vote to be able to pass unemployment insurance. These individuals need our commitment. Americas commitment. as they have given a commitment to us. Right now in America. there are now 48 million Americans living in poverty. 22 million children. Some of the individuals here were not at minimum wage. but they are individuals that are working and making minimum wage and cant make it either. We must confront these issues. There must be the attitude of the Good Samaritan in this Congress. I have introduced H.R. 3888. the New Chance for a New Start in Life Act of 2014. It provides grants to nonprofits and State and local governments to train individuals for the emerging industries. the new jobs. so that individuals such as those waiting in line for employment can find employment. I would like to add that legislation as we move forward on the extension of unemployment insurance1.3 million. 1.5 million and growing. because every week some individual who is unemployed maxes out on the 26 weeks of what they get in unemployment insurance in the State. That is why this is called emergency unemployment insurance. That is why it is called insurance. because it covers individuals who have worked. who have contributed and who have worked. So it is disappointing that we are here again not being able to extend the unemployment insurance again. not being able to put on the floor of the House and get a vote for increasing the minimum wage to $10.10. a bill that has been filed for more than a year. and to be able to look working families directly in the eye and suggest that they can survive on less than the increase of the minimum wage. There are businesses that will support this. There are businesses who recognize that. as they provide for their employee. that employee churns into the economy. That employee is a consumer. That employee tries to buy a house or pays their rent or goes out and buys items for their children or for their elderly parents or for themselves. Why dont we understand that investment is what America is all about? Because America is not broke. and we have the opportunity to invest and to create more research and development. but we are living under the umbrella with the big elephant in the roomsequester. That doesnt make sense. because this country is one of the richest countries in the world. I can assure you that. if we invest in America. we will create jobs. and those jobs will then churn the economy again and continue to bring down the debt. I dont know why a commonsense approach to building this economy up should not be the direction of this country. Yesterday. I spoke at a highspeed rail summit. It is very clear that a building of highspeed rail will create thousands of jobs and increase mobility of Americans. but yet the image is that we are broke. and that is a very sad commentary. As I listened to the ads that were utilized in my State of Texas. individuals not running for Congress or the United States Senate but running for State offices. all they can talk about is standing up against Obama. I want to stand with President Obama and stand with him to build this country and make it greater. That should be the message: invest in people. That is what will make America the Nation that all have looked to.