Dave Camp: “Three weeks ago we were here talking about this. Two months ago we were here talking about this. And even if this bill…”

“Three weeks ago we were here talking about this. Two months ago we were here talking about this. And even if this bill becomes law, in four months we will likely be back again talking about this. The specific subject is extended unemployment benefits. But the real issue, and what is driving the need for a record 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, is this Administration's woeful record when it comes to creating jobs that provide paychecks, instead of unemployment checks. In February 2009, the President signed into law the Democrats' trillion-dollar ``stimulus'' plan. That was the plan Democrats promised would create 3.7 million jobs, keep unemployment under 8 percent, and stimulate strong private sector job growth. None of that happened. Instead, over 2 million more jobs were lost and unemployment spiked to 10 percent, though the number of government jobs has grown somewhat. So here we are again--extending unemployment benefits because stimulus failed to create the millions of jobs Democrats promised. But instead of doing this responsibly, this bill will simply add another $34 billion to our $13 trillion mountain of debt. We can do better than this. Both Republicans and Democrats support helping the long-term unemployed. And both Republicans and Democrats want to responsibly pay for these benefits.”