The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S8343 on Dec. 1, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, today, without congressional action, hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose their unemployment benefits. Earlier this week, along with 19 of my colleagues, I introduced the Unemployment Insurance Stabilization Act of 2010--the USA bill. Our bill would reauthorize the Federal unemployment benefits program.
Unemployment benefits are the only lifeline that many workers in Montana and across the nation have left in this tough economy. These benefits help millions of Americans to put food on the table and roofs over their heads. These benefits pump money into our economy and help to create jobs.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that unemployment benefits have one of the largest effects on economic output and employment per dollar spent of any policy.
This Congress has spent a lot of time reauthorizing unemployment benefits for a few months at a time. This bill would reauthorize the program for a full year.
A longer reauthorization of the unemployment benefits program would provide certainty. It would provide certainty for our economy. And it would provide the certainty that Americans looking for work need.
This bill would fund unemployment insurance for people who have lost their jobs in the latter portion of the recession.
This bill would not provide anyone with more than 99 weeks of benefits. This bill would ensure that out-of-work Americans who lost their jobs recently would get benefits similar to those received by their neighbors who lost their jobs earlier in the recession.
The Department of Labor reports that for every dollar spent on unemployment insurance, two dollars are reinvested in the economy.
This bill is crucial to our economy. This bill is about jobs.
This bill is about jobs because unemployment insurance goes to people who will spend it immediately. That increases economic demand. And that helps to support our fragile economic recovery.
CBO says that aid to the unemployed is among the policies best suited to creating jobs per dollar of budgetary cost.
With unemployment at 9.6 percent, now is not the time to stop investing in economic recovery. This bill would keep in place a major source of our recovery. This bill would support Americans who have worked, are looking for work, and will work again.
For millions of people, unemployment insurance is the bridge to the next job. This bill would provide a bridge over troubled waters.
I think of a woman from Helena, MT, who called my office. She told us that unemployment benefits are keeping her family afloat. She was laid off when she was 8 months pregnant. And she wants the Senate to know that she has worked since she was a teenager. She wants to work. And she will work again.
And I think of a Montana father with three small children who was laid off after 18 years of service. The company could no longer pay his wages. He has no income. But he continues to look for work. His home is going into foreclosure. Unemployment insurance has been his only income. It is what puts food on the table for his family.
This is America. When there is an emergency, we don't leave people behind.
We cannot take Federal unemployment insurance benefits away before our economy and out-of-work Americans have found their footing.
Let's not leave the unemployed behind.
I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation.
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