Dan Kildee: “On Monday night, I introduced legislation to provide an extension of emergency unemployment benefits that would extend…”

“On Monday night, I introduced legislation to provide an extension of emergency unemployment benefits that would extend the important safety net of unemployment benefits, unemployment insurance to over 2 million Americans who lost their benefits on December 28 and thereafter as a result of the failure of this body to act to protect those benefits. Many of us, particularly on the Democratic side--and I know some on the other side as well because they have expressed it--would have preferred that we had dealt with this question as we were dealing with the budget issues and the budget question that we faced at the end of last year, but we did not, so we are left now with the fact that we have some unfinished business. On Monday evening, in a bipartisan fashion, the U.S. Senate enacted similar legislation. In fact, the bill that I introduced on Monday night was the precise language enacted on a bipartisan basis by the U.S. Senate. Two million Americans are living right now with the fear of losing their homes, losing their cars, having their families split up because they don't have that basic need being met of a roof over a head and food on the table between their last jobs and their next jobs. For typical workers in America, when they lose their jobs, it takes an average of 37 weeks. I know, in my home State, it is probably longer before they find their next opportunities. In Michigan, once one loses one's job, one has got 20 weeks of unemployment insurance.…”