Charles Rangel: “I rise, Madam Speaker, to share with the House the importance of extended unemployment insurance, increasing disposable…”

“I rise, Madam Speaker, to share with the House the importance of extended unemployment insurance, increasing disposable income, and to try desperately hard to shatter the myth that some of the opponents of extended unemployment have expressed, and this is that Americans don't want to work and would prefer to receive a check and that receiving this check is a deterrent for them to go out and search for jobs. I can't believe that this is a Republican doctrine because, outside of these Halls, most Americans don't wear on their sleeves whether they're Republican or Democrats or liberals or conservatives. Most Americans just want to be a part of this wonderful American Dream. And while we work in order to have wages, so much a part of having a job is self-esteem. That's what our great country is about. Not since the Depression have Americans felt so embarrassed because their kids are being asked questions as to did your daddy and mom lose their job. People who thought they made it into the middle class, which is the economic heartbeat of this great Nation, moved into communities with higher rents or higher expenses in terms of their homes; and then they were hit by this economic nightmare. Through no fault of their own, they lost their jobs, their homes, their savings, their hope. And they are out there, and we are saying that they don't want to work, that they enjoy being unemployed?…”