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.
“ECONOMIC STIMULUS IN THE NORTHWEST” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S1701-S1702 on March 8, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ECONOMIC STIMULUS IN THE NORTHWEST
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague from the State of Washington to impress on this body just how important elements of this legislation are to the workers in the Pacific Northwest and the Nation.
As my colleagues know, Washington and Oregon have the highest unemployment rates in the Nation right now.
The economy of the Northwest has been struggling for some time and September 11 only made things worse.
Last year, Boeing, Washington's largest employer, announced they would be cutting 30,000 jobs within a year. Most of those jobs would be out of Washington State. To date, 10,000 dedicated Boeing workers have been handed their pink slips. That number doesn't include the thousands of jobs that are being lost by those dependent on Boeing.
Washington State is also a high-tech dependent State. The downturn in that sector has left many in the Northwest without a job.
These massive lay-offs, uncertainty in the economy, and fear of another terrorist attack have crippled the economies of the Northwest.
We are expecting that the layoffs may reach 40 to 65,000 by the end of this year.
So the importance of the legislation is paramount--but the devil's in the details--and so we have worked to make sure that the language passed by the House will provide the maximum stimulus possible to workers throughout this Nation.
My colleague, Senator Cantwell, has been diligent in monitoring this legislation and we have worked in tandem to ensure that States in such great need do not have their support decreased because those States have proactively made efforts to provide extended benefits to workers in advance of the passage of this legislation.
I understand that the majority leader has agreed to engage in a colloquy on this matter with myself and Senator Cantwell so that we may clarify that the legislation will, in fact, have it's intended stimulative impact on our State.
At this time, I yield back to the majority leader and look forward to his response.
Ms. CANTWELL. If the majority leader yield for a question, I thank the majority leader and my colleague Senator Murray.
I am pleased to join her in support of this legislation.
My colleague shares my concern over the serious situation in our State and throughout the Northwest. In Washington State alone 42,070 workers exhausted UI claims from September 11 through the beginning of March; and 14 of Washington's 39 counties have unemployment rates above ten percent.
If this is not an emergency, I do not know what is.
That's why we have insisted for months now that the Senate pass a simple unemployment insurance extension of at least 13 weeks.
But, we do want to make explicitly clear how the bill will conform with state laws providing extended benefits, so that we preserve the intended purpose of this legislation.
I cannot emphasize enough how pleased this Senator is to have this legislation is finally approaching enactment. I am extremely pleased that the House has finally come to the conclusion that need this 13-
week Federal support, and has finally decided to do the right thing for our workers, and our nation as a whole.
But we have meticulously worked to ensure that the language of this legislation would conform with the extended benefits offered by our State, so that one of the most heavily impacted States in the nation is able to fully benefit from what we're doing today.
The distinguished majority leader worked very hard with us last year and earlier this year to craft language that would achieve this purpose. The language passed by this body in February made very clear that the temporary federal benefits would begin immediately after the 26th week, across the board. The UI provision is crafted in a less clear manner in the House bill, but I am aware that the House Ways and Means chairman yesterday expressed his intent in drafting that language that the federal benefit would begin before wholly State-financed benefits.
We understand that the Department of Labor has promised to provide a letter of interpretation of the House-passed legislation that is expected to clarify these issues, and specifically, the technical order of benefits that workers will be expected to receive. This Senator urges the Secretary to get this assurance to us immediately, so that States can adequately plan to meet the needs of workers who have exhausted or will soon exhaust their benefits.
While I am disappointed that the House language is not explicitly clear on this matter, as was the Senate bill, I am pleased to hear that the Department understands this intent and will interpret the language accordingly.
We will closely be watching to ensure that the Secretary follows through on this commitment and puts the Department's priority where it should be--on providing as much assistance as possible to the areas of this Nation that desperately need it--and to providing it in a time frame that truly reflects the urgency of the situation.
Again, I appreciate the phenomenal work of the majority leader and the entire Senate in doing its work on this bill months ago; and now that the House has finally come to the table, I urge that we move quickly to get it enacted and get extended benefits out to workers who need it most.
At this time I ask the distinguished majority leader if it is his understanding that the intent of this legislation was to provide a Federal benefit immediately after regular state UI benefits, and I will yield back for his response.
Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is exactly right, that is the intent of the legislation.
As I understand it, the House chairman did clarify yesterday that his intent in drafting the legislation conformed to the Senator's view that the federal benefit start before any state-financed extended benefit.
As the Senators from Washington know, the Senate put forward a bill in February that provided a simple 13-week extension to all States, which would begin immediately after the exhaustion of regular UI benefits.
There are a number of States that did act in providing State-financed extended benefits before the House finally agreed to send us this compromise legislation, and those States deserve the maximum federal benefit.
This is about giving workers a chance to get back on their feet.
We have worked hard to recognize the technical concerns of the Senators from Washington and ensure that we were providing the maximum assistance to all States.
So I will say clearly that it was the Congress' intent to provide the federal benefit immediately after regular UI and I will work with the Senators to ensure that the Department conforms with that intent.
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