Date: 2002-02-12
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. later this week the House will adjourn for district work period in honor of Presidents Day and give us an opportunity to go home and talk to our constituents. It is a tragedy before we adjourn. we will not deal with the problems of unemployment. Those who were unemployed prior to September 11. who have been unemployed for many. many months. those who were unemployed as a result of September 11 because of the downturn in the economy because of that tragic event against this country. but both of these categories of the unemployed need our help. They are exhausting their unemployment benefits. Close to a million people have exhausted their unemployment benefits. Many of those who were unemployed were working in occupations that were at the margins. They were not able to build up extensive savings accounts or a rainy day fund for their family. They were not able to pay their mortgage in advance or car payments in advance. When the checks stopped. they were in trouble. I have now listened to many of these workers in California. Indiana and New Jersey who have testified that they worked for 15 years. 10 years. 8 years. women in professional jobs at banks. truck drivers. people who worked in the dotcoin industry. and now they are in serious financial trouble because they are in the process of exhausting their unemployment benefits. Last week the Senate took the necessary step to extend it for an additional 13 weeks. Last week the House of Representatives did nothing. This week the House of Representatives will do nothing. It is incredible the insensitivity of the Republican leadership to the needs of these hardworking American families. These are people who have really. really good work records. They have been trying to provide for their families for many years. A young man who worked for Sunkist Corporation in California told our meeting that he had been driving a truck for 15 years. he was able to buy a home a few months ago. and now he is scrambling to pay the mortgage. He is invading his retirement benefits and 401(k) to try to save his house. This is not an unusual story. There is also the issue of over 2 million people who have lost health care benefits because of unemployment. Congress has failed to respond. One of the proposals was to help them provide the payment of the COBRA benefit that allows workers to continue the employers health insurance plan until reemployed. That is an absolute necessity for many of the unemployed because if they cannot continue that plan and they have a preexisting health condition. or their child has a preexisting health condition or spouse does. that individuals break in employment. break in health insurance means very likely that condition will not be covered when reemployed. That is why the COBRA benefit is so terribly important. Yet for those 2 million people. Congress has done nothing. The tax credit that the President offers does not solve that problem for hundreds of thousands of families that are in that situation. Or for those peoples whose spouses may have had a bout with cancer. or whose children who may have a childhood illness. that would not be covered. Yet Congress insists it is going to take leave of this town. go home for 13 or 14 days. and we are going to fail to address the needs of these families. We must understand that these families are in dire financial straits. In dire financial straits. They are either adding up their debt because they are living off of what credit card debt they have available to them. they are borrowing from family members. or they are invading their retirement funds. Why in America should a working familkr that finds itself unemployed through no fault of their own. because of a terrorist activity or because of a downturn in the economy. they showed up and went to work every day. why should they lose all of their assets before we help them with health care or extend them some benefits? Mr. Speaker. we ought to extend the 13 weeks immediately. If there is a break. and a worker has been working in the hospitality industry or lowpaying jobs in this country. 2 weeks. 4 weeks without a check is a devastating event. Maybe Members of Congress cannot understand that. but when Members go home for the district work period. Members need to- talk to these people. Then Members will begin to understand the desperate straits that millions of Americans find themselves in because of this Congress failure to extend the unemployment benefits.