Thomas Daschle: “Our priority, first and foremost, is to help the 7.5, now almost 8 million workers who are unemployed. In the last…”

“Our priority, first and foremost, is to help the 7.5, now almost 8 million workers who are unemployed. In the last recession, we extended employment benefits four times. We have to consider the fact that those weeks are running out now, for those who are eligible for unemployment assistance, and we have to extend it again this time. But we also have to understand that 54 percent of those who are unemployed today are not entitled to unemployment benefits, so we have to broaden eligibility. That is certainly going to be a key area for us as we attempt to negotiate some successful solution. I would say as well that none of them can afford health benefits. When you are given a few hundred dollars a month in unemployment, it is almost impossible--after you have paid the rent, after you have paid for the groceries and the heating bills and other necessities of the family--to buy health insurance.”