Lucille Roybal-Allard: “I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to commend Congressman Pocan for his leadership and his hard work on this…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to commend Congressman Pocan for his leadership and his hard work on this very, very important issue. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 1.4 million Americans who lost their emergency unemployment insurance during the holiday season and the millions of Americans who stand to lose their benefits in 2014 if Congress fails to extend unemployment insurance. It is an insult to the American worker to oppose the extension of these benefits on the premise that emergency unemployment insurance provides a disincentive to work and that it makes unemployed Americans content to live off of the taxpayer-supported benefits. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, that Americans have a strong work ethic and are the best and most productive in the world. And the reality is that in spite of their efforts to find employment. There are still 1.3 million fewer jobs today than there were when many of these Americans lost their jobs due to our country's economic downturn. It is unconscionable to punish those who lost their job through no fault of their own and continue to actively seek work. With nearly three job-seekers for every available position, American workers are unemployed not because they are not motivated to work, but because there are simply not enough jobs for everyone who needs one. This problem is magnified in my home State of California where there are 400,000 fewer jobs available today than there were 6 years ago.…”