Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, at the onset of the Great Recession, our unemployment insurance system was completely inadequate. Democrats took the lead, against increasing Republican opposition, to improve the system and to provide unemployment benefits to Americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. The result was an emergency Federal unemployment compensation program which helped more than 24 million people. Research from a broad array of experts shows these Federal UI benefits, in combination with State-provided benefits, saved more than 2 million jobs, prevented 1.4 million home foreclosures, and kept an estimated 5 million Americans out of poverty. In short, a strong unemployment insurance system helped prevent the Great Recession from turning into another Great Depression. Today, our unemployment insurance system is again inadequate and totally unprepared to respond to a future recession; and once again, rather than stepping up with solutions, Republicans' answer to working people is a cold shoulder. Instead of responding to the deterioration of our unemployment insurance system, Republicans today want to shame and blame Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, while also violating their constitutional rights. Here are the real problems this legislation completely ignores: Number one, only one out of every four jobless Americans now receives unemployment benefits, near a record all-time low.…”