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“TAX RELIEF, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE REAUTHORIZATION, AND JOB CREATION ACT OF 2010” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2202 on Dec. 18, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TAX RELIEF, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE REAUTHORIZATION, AND JOB CREATION
ACT OF 2010
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speech of
HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4853) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for airport improvement program, and for other purposes:
Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 4853, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 for one simple reason. It includes an extension of federally-
subsidized unemployment compensation benefits for thirteen additional months. The importance of extending unemployment benefits for my constituents back home cannot be overstated: these benefits are a critical lifeline for many in my district, as they are for millions of other Americans and their families. In October, the latest month for which data is available, there were 588,000 individuals in the State of Ohio who relied on this benefit to keep their heads and their families' heads above water. The Department of Labor reports that nearly 8.3 million Americans were receiving unemployment compensation as of early November.
Extending federal support for unemployment benefits is the least that we can do on behalf of the estimated 1.2 million people nationwide whose unemployment insurance either recently expired or will expire as they reach the last weeks of their available benefits. Cutting off unemployment benefits only adds to the shame and humiliation that people feel upon losing gainful employment through no fault of their own. For the residents of Ohio, this cutoff has been especially painful as the unemployment rate in Ohio is currently 9.9 percent. Through 2009, of those who were unemployed in my state, nearly a third had been unemployed for 26 weeks or longer. This is the highest rate of long-
term unemployment seen in over 15 years. Ohio's economy was already struggling long before the current recession hit. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio lost approximately 430,000 manufacturing jobs from 1990 through July of 2010.
These staggering job losses have a spillover effect, touching every county and city in Ohio, as foreclosure rates have risen to a devastating level. Each year since 1995, the rate of new foreclosure filings in Ohio has grown, and from 1995 to 2009, the rate quadrupled. In 2009, there were a record 89,053 foreclosure filings--that is one foreclosure filing for every 56 housing units in the State of Ohio. In the City of Cleveland alone, there have been more than 38,000 new foreclosure filings since 2005. Because this crisis spread steadily to more middle-class and high-income suburban areas, non-urban areas now have the highest foreclosure rates in the state.
The ripple effects continue. Ohioans are forced to live with others due to foreclosure. They face communities marked with vacant and abandoned properties. The State of Ohio tells us that there are around 58,000 Ohioans who have exhausted the assistance they were getting from the state or federal government. But there are no official counts of the number of underemployed individuals, who are thankful for what they do have but cannot find opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. It is for these people that I cast a ``yea'' vote on this bill.
The bill contains much more than the unemployment benefits. It provides for a two-year extension of the tax cut provisions passed in 2001 and 2003 for individuals and couples at all income levels and extends the 10 percent, 25 percent, 28 percent, 33 percent and 35 percent marginal tax brackets for two years. It temporarily repeals, for two years, the personal exemption phaseout, ``PEP'', as well as the itemized deduction limitation that taxpayers may claim on their income tax filings. It also continues enhanced child tax credits, and the maximum 15 percent rate on capital gains and dividends for taxpayers in the 25 percent tax bracket and above. It reduces the tax known as the
``marriage penalty'' and it includes a two-year ``patch'' intended to prevent more than 25 million Americans from being subject to the alternative minimum tax, otherwise scheduled to take effect in the next calendar year. It also extends expensing rules for small businesses.
However, I am gravely concerned that the inclusion of a provision to lower the employee portion of the payroll tax by two percentage points for one year threatens to reduce Social Security to a bargaining chip. This provision significantly weakens Social Security's revenue stream and makes it more vulnerable to the calls for cuts and privatization the program has faced for years. Advocates of this provision point out that Americans may use the money that will not be deducted from their paychecks to pay down the crushing level of personal debt that many are struggling with. But the cost to the Social Security trust fund of $112 billion is dangerous because it cuts one-third of Social Security's funding this year alone. Worse, the act of temporarily lowering this contribution--normally an accepted deduction from every working American's paycheck--may become a political issue when time comes for this provision to sunset and the payroll tax to be reinstated. Social Security is a vital lifeline for our nation's seniors, and we tread into perilous waters when we tinker with its funding mechanism.
Mr. Chair, this bill contains many provisions about which I have strong reservations, including the payroll tax ``holiday,'' the gutting of the estate tax, subsidies for ethanol and liquid coal, and the extension of low tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. But this bill contains a crucial provision--an extension of unemployment benefits which are critical for millions of Americans. I cannot in good conscience vote against it.
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