Louise Slaughter: “I had hoped to come to the well today to congratulate my colleagues for crafting a measure in the nick of time that…”

“I had hoped to come to the well today to congratulate my colleagues for crafting a measure in the nick of time that addressed the real need in the communities. But like the vast majority of the legislation emerging from the 107th Congress, this is a pitiful stopgap measure that in the end will benefit far fewer than the rhetoric from the other side of the aisle suggests. I wish the unemployed had the lobbying might of the credit card companies who are enjoying the consideration of a last minute bankruptcy bill that will hammer our most vulnerable constituents, or even the insurance companies at the moment being blessed with a last minute measure to absolve them of liability in the event of future attacks, but the unemployed do not have the attention of the majority party and we do not believe they ever will. The measure before us today is woefully inadequate when it comes to addressing the needs of our Nation's unemployed workers. I would note that these are newly unemployed workers, those that have paid into the system in the event of an economic slowdown. Mr. Speaker, the economy has not hit a soft patch. It is in a recession. Moreover, the money these workers paid into the system is there. They are workers who paid into the system when times were good and are now in need when the economy is rough. Why put obstacles in front of working families that need this aid?”