Political Quotes

“Because of the reality of scheduling, and in part because of what happened in the last Congress, we are faced with the reality that if we do not act today, there are going to be as many as 750,000 people who will have a disruption in benefits as of Thursday. I believe the House is going out tomorrow. We have a compromise on both sides of the aisle we have been working on that was agreed to--worked on by Senators Clinton, Fitzgerald, Nickles, Specter, Cantwell, and a range of people. I understand what we are doing today, if this is accepted by unanimous consent, is taking care of the 750,000 people who will be able to continue to receive their benefits. Basically, what the compromise does is extend unemployment benefits from December 28--which was while we were all out on vacation--up until June 1, 2003, which is an additional 5 months of coverage. The compromise... also provides coverage allowing benefits to be phased out rather than just shut off immediately when the program ends.”