Louise Slaughter: “Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership has taken care of their colleagues in the Congress. There is going to be a tidy…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership has taken care of their colleagues in the Congress. There is going to be a tidy COLA made available to Members of Congress that will far exceed 6 months' worth of unemployment benefits for most Americans. In this bill, all they could find room for was a 5-week extension. I have to admit, coming from the State of Oregon, with the second-highest unemployment rate in the Nation, with 2,500 people a week exhausting their benefits, that that is better than nothing. Those families now know that through Christmas and the holidays they will not be totally cut off. However, it creates an incredible amount of uncertainty for those families come the end of January. We cannot do better than that? We can give ourselves a COLA for 12 months that far exceeds any benefits they can ever expect under unemployment, but somehow we cannot give them the certainty of another 26 weeks? I do not understand that. I really do not understand that position in this House. Why are we so stingy when it comes to working people, and so generous when it comes to insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry? It might have something to do with who funds our campaigns. This provision of this bill is essential, but it is nowhere near enough.”