Donald M. Payne: “Before I start, let me thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford) for his leadership through the first session of…”

“Before I start, let me thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford) for his leadership through the first session of the 113th Congress and into the second session of the 113th Congress. I am honored to be one of the freshmen--actually the ranking freshman in the CBC, if I can take that liberty--but the gentleman from Nevada and the gentleman from New York have distinguished themselves in the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus in the first session of the 113th Congress, and I am honored to serve with them. Mr. Speaker, I rise today for the 90,000 New Jerseyans who lost their unemployment insurance on December 28 and the 89,000 more New Jerseyans set to lose unemployment benefits in the first half of the new year. The people back in my district can't understand how out of touch some of my Republican colleagues have become to think that cutting off this assistance will force the unemployed to get a job. Well, I have news for my colleagues: these people are not lazy, quite the opposite. These people are out every single day searching desperately for work, but the fact of the matter is there just aren't enough jobs for the amount of people unemployed. It is up to Congress to pass a jobs bill to put these people back to work, but this Congress has not done that.…”