On the recordJuly 19, 2010
I thank my colleague from Ohio for keeping our focus on working people and on the struggles of working people, particularly this environment, this recession, coming out of this recession, people who have lost their jobs, people who need unemployment. Last week, Madam Speaker, I had the privilege of meeting Louise Strong. She's one of these women who represents workers all across this country. She's a constituent in my congressional district in Maryland. She is unjustly suffering from the loss of her unemployment benefits. Louise told me that after 28 years she lost her full-time job with the Marriott Corporation in October 2008. She was then offered a temporary position, but it only lasted 4 months. For the first time in almost 30 years--I think since she was a teenager--Louise was unemployed and began receiving unemployment insurance. Since then, Louise has fought tirelessly to get a job, sending out hundreds of resumes, filling out countless job applications, and over a year later she's still without work. And since June, she is no longer receiving her unemployment benefits, benefits that she is entitled to as a working person. Mr. Speaker, as of six o'clock this evening, I looked at the counter, like Americans can do across this country, just go online, 2,645,088 Americans as of 6 o'clock this evening, including more than 12,000 from my home State of Maryland, joined Louise in losing their unemployment benefits.
