Neal Dunn: “this is the third time we have had to pass this stimulus bill. The gentleman from Texas claims that we are creating a…”

“this is the third time we have had to pass this stimulus bill. The gentleman from Texas claims that we are creating a log jam in our process in order to defeat the items in this bill. I think on the other hand it is the Senate that is creating the log jam. The Senate did not have the courage to pass more than 13 weeks of unemployment to this body. How many times are we going to have to pass this bill before we can get the Senate to wake up and break that log jam? The Senate sent a bill back to us with 13 weeks of unemployment. No potential extension for States like my State, second highest unemployment in this Nation, Washington State. The bill that they sent over had no health care coverage. That is a huge problem. I have a problem, 7.1 percent unemployment in the State of Washington, and the Senate sends over to us a bill that gives those folks 13 weeks of unemployment insurance but no coverage for health care or for anything else. I want to talk about this bill, Mr. Speaker. This bill contains a $37 billion amount that would be used for retraining of folks who lost their jobs since last March 15, and includes over $13 billion for health coverage alone. And we do not do this coverage just for COBRA people, for people who worked for big companies who get off that job and can buy their own COBRA insurance. We also cover the people who work for small businesses, under 20 people, that do not have access to COBRA. That is very important.…”