Jack Reed: “I am wondering if the Senator can confirm that we have routinely extended unemployment benefits over many decades, over…”

“I am wondering if the Senator can confirm that we have routinely extended unemployment benefits over many decades, over both Republican and Democratic Presidents and Republican and Democratic Congresses, and we have always done it when the unemployment rate was at least above 7.4 percent. I think the lowest unemployment rate in which we suspended unemployment, extending benefits, was 7.4 percent. I say that because in Rhode Island we are up to 12.9 percent and there are other States that are equally disadvantaged. This not only sort of upsets what I think is the logical way to proceed on this tonight, but it rejects decades and decades of the common sense and common decency of the Congress. I think and I hope you can confirm that understanding.”