John Ensign: “I am going to speak on the JOBS bill and the importance of passing the JOBS bill. In particular, a portion of the JOBS…”

“I am going to speak on the JOBS bill and the importance of passing the JOBS bill. In particular, a portion of the JOBS bill called Invest In The USA Act, which I authored with Senator Boxer last year. I just want to take a couple of minutes to respond to the comments of the Senator from Washington about unemployment and extending the temporary extension of unemployment benefits. We have had this debate many times on the Senate floor and it has been shown that when the Democrats were in control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, the extension of unemployment benefits was terminated when the unemployment rate in the country was 6.4 percent, almost a full percentage point higher than it is today. Historically, the termination criteria remains true. In the past, both President Clinton and the Democrat leader of the Senate, Tom Daschle, talked about a 5.6 percent unemployment rate and what a strong economy the US had at that time. Today, people's mindsets are different. People think that our current rate is actually a high unemployment rate. I believe we need to continue to look for things that will create jobs in America.”