Don Nickles: “If my memory serves me correctly, the Daschle amendment has an unemployment extension of 13 weeks, and that is about $8…”

“If my memory serves me correctly, the Daschle amendment has an unemployment extension of 13 weeks, and that is about $8 billion, I believe. The cost of this is $15 billion. This amendment costs a lot of money, as can be expected, because when we hear people say it is going to benefit thousands of our constituents, from where is the money coming? It is coming from the Federal Government. This is primarily a State program. We have to decide: Are we going to have the Federal Government take over State management of this program? That is what we are doing with this amendment. This amendment determines what quarter or what eligibility period. In the past, States have always determined that. So we are going to tell every Governor: You are going to have to use the last quarter. We have not done that in the past. We are going to tell them: This is the quarter to use to determine eligibility and, incidentally, States, you could have provided assistance to temporary workers if you so chose, but now we are telling you you have to provide that assistance. How do we define 'temporary'? My daughter is a senior at Oklahoma State University. She works X number of hours a week. That is temporary. It is not 40 hours a week; it is less than 40 hours. Is she eligible? I think she would be. She might be very displeased with my vote in just a moment. This amendment costs a lot of money. A temporary worker is going to be eligible to receive the same weekly benefits as a full-time worker.”