Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we are here to move forward on extending unemployment benefits, which is long overdue. They expired April 5. We have thousands and indeed hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens across the Nation who need this assistance. In my State of Rhode Island, it has become even more necessary. Not only are we seeing unemployment rates ranging around 12 percent, but last week we endured the worst flooding in the history of our State. It has swept through a large portion of our State. Senator Whitehouse and I have been going from town to town and neighborhood to neighborhood. People's homes have been engulfed in water, up through the first floor. They have lost their utilities. They have lost their appliances. They have lost their precious mementoes--everything. We have also had commercial operations that have been flooded. Our largest mall in the State, Warwick Mall, has been completely inundated. It has been closed now for almost 2 weeks. Literally hundreds and hundreds of employees have not been able to work. They are now eligible, through no fault of their own, for unemployment compensation. So we have to do this. This is an example of one State, but it is throughout this whole country. What is also adding further necessity to the legislation before us is that--what we have found is that our Federal, State, and local officials have been extraordinarily prompt in responding to the disaster. I thank the President.…”