Neal Dunn: “It is very important for us, Mr. Speaker, to debate, and we will debate over the ensuing months, an economic growth plan…”

“It is very important for us, Mr. Speaker, to debate, and we will debate over the ensuing months, an economic growth plan that will stimulate the economy and create more jobs. Everybody right now on unemployment wishes that he or she had a job. We are going to have that debate. It is vitally important. Today we are debating what we can do in the interim to assist people who, not by their own choice, are out of a job. We are talking about a $7 billion piece of legislation today that will assist a huge number of folks who were not covered before by unemployment compensation. We have already spent $19 billion with assistance last year. I think it is vitally important that we continue the debate on this bill so we can get passage of it on the floor today, combined with the piece of legislation passed by the Senate yesterday, and get it to the President tomorrow so we can begin to help people whose unemployment benefits ended on December 28; and we can do this without disruption in the dollars they will receive so they can have some peace of mind as they move through this very, very tough time in their lives.”