Max Baucus: “I ask all Senators to heed the words of the Senator from Connecticut. I think he is accurate. I think he is on target.…”

“I ask all Senators to heed the words of the Senator from Connecticut. I think he is accurate. I think he is on target. The amendment before us, of which I am a cosponsor, is very simple. The answer of whether it should be adopted is also very easy. Getting to the point, the question is, Should we extend unemployment benefits to those millions of Americans who do not have jobs and whose unemployment insurance is about to expire? The provisions in Federal law that give unemployment insurance benefits will expire in a few weeks. The number of unemployed people is rising. These are people who have lost their jobs not because of their fault but because they have been laid off, because the economy is anemic. They lost jobs because their employers are laying them off. The question is, Should the Congress extend unemployment benefits? Should they extend unemployment benefits to these hard-working men and women who are not making a lot of money? They are basic wage earners. Should we extend unemployment benefits? To ask the question is to answer it: Of course, we should.”