Maria Cantwell: “I remind my colleagues we are here talking about a JOBS bill. That is what we are talking about, how we keep jobs in…”

“I remind my colleagues we are here talking about a JOBS bill. That is what we are talking about, how we keep jobs in America. So I think it is more than appropriate to be talking about one of the biggest problems in our country right now, the fact we have not created jobs. We have lost 2 million jobs since this administration began. It is more than appropriate to be discussing the unemployment benefits American workers need because they have lost jobs, through no fault of their own, since 9/11 and have been struggling to get recognition by this body and the other body on unemployment benefits. We still have 1.5 million Americans who have exhausted State benefits and have not gotten assistance from this body, the Senate, which now wants to talk about a JOBS bill. Well, the most important jobs issue we are facing in America right now is that people who are trying to go back to work would love to be getting a paycheck instead of an unemployment check, and yet we are not giving them the option to have support in a program they have already paid into through their employer for unemployment benefits.”