Kevin Brady: “I think there is bipartisan agreement--Republicans and Democrats--on extending unemployment benefits for a full year.…”

“I think there is bipartisan agreement--Republicans and Democrats--on extending unemployment benefits for a full year. Clearly, we're in tough economic times. But here we are 2\1/2\ years after the recession officially ended, and yet we have 27 million people who can't find a full-time job. We have a lower unemployment rate principally because so many Americans have simply given up looking for work. What we know is the current unemployment system is not working. I think we can all agree that an unemployment check is no substitute for a paycheck. We know the longer a person stays unemployed, the harder it is for them to get back in the workforce. Most studies show that after 2 years, the chances of you getting back in the workforce becomes very, very slim, yet the government today subsidizes that unemployment for almost that full 2 years. There's agreement that the sooner we get people back to work the better it is for them, and the better it is for our economy. But what the Federal Government is doing today, it isn't working. We have a system from the 1930s. We need an unemployment system for the 21st century, for today's economy. Commonsense reforms are in order, but the Democrat motion to instruct that we just heard about destroys those reforms to put people back to work.…”