On the recordJuly 21, 2010
Not to mention the State of the Republican minority leader, Kentucky, with 32,200 people who have had their unemployment benefits cut off. I would say to the Senator from Michigan that I am contacted by these families, and they describe to me what life is like when they lose that $250-a-week check and they are out of work. First, they exhaust their savings, then they start putting off paying bills, and then they pray to God they don't get sick because they have lost their health insurance. Then comes the day of reckoning. One lady called and said: They are cutting off my gas to my home, and the electricity is next. Another said: I am 1 month away from moving out of my little efficiency into my car. That is where I am going to have to live. That is the reality of life, and that is while these people are looking for work. Imagine those burdens--and anyone facing them would be preoccupied by them--at the same time trying to dress up nicely, put on a happy face, and fill out the forms to find a job. I ask the Senator from Michigan what she is finding with these people who have been cut off from basic unemployment benefits because of the Republican filibuster.
