Political Quotes

“A key provision in the Senate Finance Committee package was an extension of unemployment benefits. This is one of the most effective ways to stimulate the company. These benefits can be distributed quickly, and they are likely to be spent. This is not a matter of ideology; it is a matter of economics. And a broad range of economists agrees with this. Even Alan Greenspan, hardly a liberal Democrat, has testified in favor of expanding unemployment benefits during periods of economic slowdown. Expanding unemployment benefits works, and this is a matter of basic compassion. The long-term unemployed are among those Americans with the most pressing needs. Unfortunately, there are well over a million Americans who are expected to exhaust their regular unemployment benefits between January and June of this year. They need our help. If we extend the same assistance to them that we have to the long-term unemployed in the past, our entire economy will benefit.”