On the recordFebruary 23, 2010
I rise today to speak about two issues. First, the jobs bill and the provision that Senator Hatch and I worked on that helped break the partisan logjam, and also the need for the Senate to take up and pass up to $25 billion in FMAP assistance to the States. During our break, I traveled all around my State from Cheektowaga to Oswego, from Syracuse to Poughkeepsie, from Long Island to New York City. In each place, I talked with people who had lost their jobs. It was heartbreaking. These are people who are looking desperately to find work. One of the sadder points of this recession is, of course, its depth. It is deeper than all but one recession we have had since World War II. But, second, it seems to affect people at all income levels. If you are poor, if you are middle class, even if you are upper middle class, you can lose your job. Perhaps most painful of all, the amount of time that people are out of work is much longer than previous recessions.
