Rob Andrews: “The issue before the House today is whether or not 2.5 million Americans, whose unemployment benefits have expired or…”

“The issue before the House today is whether or not 2.5 million Americans, whose unemployment benefits have expired or are about to expire, should get extensions. I emphatically believe that they should. Now, the argument that we have heard from the other side--first, about not even taking a vote on this issue and now against extending those benefits--is twofold. The first, which we just heard a version of, is that to extend their unemployment benefits somehow zaps the incentive for people to look for jobs. I would challenge anybody who makes that assertion to go meet 10 or 100 or 500 unemployed people and ask them just how many want ads they have circled, just how many resumes they have sent out, and just how hard they have looked for jobs, and I think that will put that argument to rest. The second argument is a good faith argument that people do not want to add to the national debt.”