Dianne Feinstein: “I rise to address the fact that by the end of the year more than 2 million Americans will have exhausted their…”

“I rise to address the fact that by the end of the year more than 2 million Americans will have exhausted their unemployment insurance. There is no more pressing issue facing our Nation's workforce, and yet Congress has chosen to put partisanship ahead of what nearly everyone agrees is smart policy. By passing widely divergent bills, the House and the Senate have virtually ensured that on December 28 of this year thousands of workers will be in the impossible position of trying to feed, clothe, and house their families with no work and no benefits. I strongly support the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002, a bipartisan compromise bill which was introduced in the Senate in late September. This bill, introduced by Senators Wellstone, Clinton, and Kennedy, with the support of 33 Senators, extends unemployment benefits nationwide for 13 weeks, and provides 20 weeks of extended benefits for California and other high unemployment States. It provides crucial temporary assistance to those who have been hardest hit by the current economic downturn, and provides them a chance to support themselves and their families while they look for work.”