Ben Cardin: “I would hope that we will defeat the previous question so that we can bring up the unemployment compensation extension.…”

“I would hope that we will defeat the previous question so that we can bring up the unemployment compensation extension. Last year, Congress left town without extending unemployment benefits, but at least we came back and did it retroactively. Now, some are saying that our unemployment is not as bad or not bad enough for us to extend the Federal unemployment benefits. They are saying it is time for the extended benefit program to end. But let us look at the facts. Never before has Congress allowed the termination of this program when the unemployment rate is higher than when the program started; at least up until now. Congress has never terminated the program with the unemployment benefits when the economy still has 2.4 million fewer jobs today than when the recession began. Congress has never stopped the extension of the program where the long-term unemployment rates have tripled. Yet, there has been no offer to give any help. Congress has never allowed the extended benefit program to expire when the exhaustion rate for regular unemployment benefits is the highest since we have been keeping these records.”