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“UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S943 on Feb. 12, 2014.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I wish to discuss the circumstances many unemployed families face.
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and now face serious financial consequences.
Many families are having trouble paying the rent or their mortgage, or they are struggling to buy necessities for their children.
On February 6, the Senate voted, again, to try to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed who are down on their luck.
But we still fell one vote short. We needed one more Republican.
I hope one of my colleagues on the Republican side will join us soon to get that legislation over the top and help folks who have been hurting since the first of the year. Getting this benefit extended is only one of the problems that unemployed families have faced in my State.
Thousands of unemployed Floridians have had their benefits delayed by flaws in the State's new automated unemployment system.
The website is called ``Florida CONNECT.''
But ironically it has left many Floridians disconnected.
We started hearing about some of the problems people were facing soon after the website was launched late last year.
When I started hearing about these reports, I asked U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to investigate.
And I am pleased to report that the Department of Labor is now working with the State to sort out who should be getting their checks.
I am told most of the people who were stuck in this mess have either started getting the benefits they deserve or have received a letter directing them to a human being they can talk to and resolve possible problems with their applications.
I trust that the State of Florida will hold anyone responsible for that flawed website completely accountable for this mess.
In the meantime I hope that we here in the Congress will do our part to help folks that are down and out and pass the extension of benefits for long-term unemployed.
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