Political Quotes

“Yesterday, the Senate voted for cloture on the unemployment insurance extension bill. Unfortunately, we are still delaying and deferring the final vote on this measure. This is essential to millions of Americans who need the money they receive-- which, frankly, it is not a huge amount. In Rhode Island, the average weekly unemployment compensation is $360 a week. But they need to have some certainty that this program is going to be there at least for the next several months. We have made a lot of points rhetorically. Now it is time to take the final vote, to move forward, and to deal with a more fundamental issue; that is, how to create the jobs--now that we are providing some assistance to those who are unemployed. How do we go ahead and further create jobs in this economy so our unemployment rolls shrink? That task is challenging. We have taken 2 months now to get to this juncture. In the past, extending unemployment compensation was a bipartisan initiative. It was done routinely and repeatedly. It was always extended as long as the unemployment rate was at least 7.4 percent. Today the unemployment rate nationally is 9.5 percent. In my State of Rhode Island it is 12 percent. We are not alone. There are many States that are very much mired in a huge economic crisis. The other factor of this unemployment situation is that it has been a long-term unemployment for so many people, nearly half of those unemployed.”