On the recordJune 2, 2011
The Republican leadership has ignored the need for a strong jobs agenda and, worse, they have pushed budget plans that would only further depress the economy and harm the unemployed. My constituents need a real job agenda in Washington now. Yet my Republican colleagues continue to promote efforts to do the opposite. On May 11, the Committee on Ways and Means approved a Republican bill that would end employment as we know it, deceivingly calling it the JOBS Act. This act would eliminate the guarantee of Federal payment for temporary extended unemployment benefits on July 6. This plan would take $32 billion now in the Federal unemployment trust funds intended for extended unemployment benefits and ship the money to the States in block grants. It would also set unreasonable qualifying requirements to receive benefits and allow for the permanent diversion of regular unemployment funds with waivers. More than 4 million Americans could lose extended benefits under this plan? This is unacceptable. I assume that the floor vote on this was postponed because my colleagues on the other side of the aisle received a message of disapproval from the American people. But more than abandoning this misguided bill, we need a stronger effort to increase jobs and improve our economy. The American taxpayers want and deserve more now. ____________________
