Cord Byrd: “Today the Senate at long last passed a thirteen-week extension of unemployment benefits. This is a relief to over 3,000…”

“Today the Senate at long last passed a thirteen-week extension of unemployment benefits. This is a relief to over 3,000 workers in my State of West Virginia who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits since September 11, 2001, and, it is help that could have--and should have--been provided sooner, if it had not been delayed unnecessarily by those who have sought to provide tens of billions of dollars in tax cuts for a so-called ``economic stimulus.'' Much has changed since an economic stimulus was first proposed in response to the September 11 attacks. The economy is growing again, business investment is on the rise, and workers are returning to their jobs. Both the stock markets and the economy have proved to be more resilient than economists had expected. And so I find it difficult to accept the argument that $43 billion in tax cuts is necessary to ignite an economic expansion that appears to be already underway. What is more, I find it difficult to support legislation that would result in a further erosion in the budgets of state governments. I served in the West Virginia Legislature, and I understand and sympathize with their budgetary constraints. The depreciation provision that was included in the bill that was passed today is projected to cost my state $86 million in revenue. My State cannot afford to lose that revenue.”