Karen Thurman: “I am actually here to support the bill. I, like many of my friends, am glad we have a piece of legislation before us…”

“I am actually here to support the bill. I, like many of my friends, am glad we have a piece of legislation before us that does address some of the issues that many of us have been concerned about and certainly one that we can find consensus. It is good to know that we in fact can find consensus and come to agreement on some issues that are facing many, many people in this country. I would just say that what we are hearing today is there has been about 80,000 Americans who are losing their unemployment benefits each week. According to one estimate, about 1.6 million people have totally exhausted their benefits since the September 11 tragedy. This 13-week extension certainly will go a long way to help them and their families during this crisis time. I would say I am disappointed that we could not up some of the Medicaid dollars. I think that would have been a right direction for our States. Our States are looking to us for some leadership on this issue.”