Hilda L. Solis: “I say good morning to our fellow Americans and to the public who are watching us as we begin to draw our attention now…”

“I say good morning to our fellow Americans and to the public who are watching us as we begin to draw our attention now to something that has been ailing our economy, and that is a discussion of unemployment. It is about time, Members, that we start addressing this issue. When we left this House almost a month ago, we forgot about the 800,000 workers that right after Christmas were given a Christmas gift: they were given no unemployment insurance. Their families are suffering. We are here today now to talk about what we can do to improve upon that. In the State that I represent, one of the largest, California, we saw well over 1.3 million people out of work. This recession that hit our area began in March of 2001. We need to help all workers, especially families. This past month, I had the opportunity to visit several of our shelters and food pantries and saw something that was very surprising, children now, small children, 3 and 2 years old and infants, women that just lost their jobs that have no place to go and no food. They are not asking for just a handout. They are asking for jobs. They are asking for also a replenishment of their unemployment insurance. We have a chance now to extend that to 26 weeks. Let us support the Democratic alternative. I plan to do that today.”