Janice Hahn: “Many of us are congratulating each other over this bipartisan budget agreement, but I want to remind us that there is…”

“Many of us are congratulating each other over this bipartisan budget agreement, but I want to remind us that there is still some unfinished business that we need to take care of. Unemployment is still a very real issue for our Nation and for our communities; and in my district, unemployment is as high as 16.9 percent, twice the national average. If we fail to take immediate action and we allow this emergency unemployment insurance to expire, just in California 214,800 people alone will lose their benefits by December 28 and an additional 325,800 unemployed California workers will lose their benefits in the first 6 months of the year. This is really unacceptable. A failure to extend this critical lifeline to those in need would not only be a devastating blow for millions of American families already struggling, but it would hurt our own recovery of our economy. Now is not the time to pull the rug out from under millions of Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Speaker Boehner, I urge you to do the right thing and not adjourn this House without extending Federal unemployment insurance for millions of Americans. ____________________”