Patty Murray: “The Murray amendment provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits for unemployed Americans who have exhausted all of…”

“The Murray amendment provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits for unemployed Americans who have exhausted all of their Federal unemployment benefits. That means we will be giving additional assistance to American workers who have been out of work for 9 months or more. My amendment provides 7 additional weeks of benefits for unemployed Americans who have already received 26 weeks of benefits because they live in a State hit hardest by the ongoing recession. Finally, my amendment provides parity to railroad workers currently ineligible for extended benefits. The amendment before us would cost $2.5 billion, but it would help more than a million American workers and their families. Mr. President, we are talking about the people in this country who have been hit hardest by this recession. We are talking about workers who have run out of options but still have to pay their mortgage; they still have to pay their medical bills; they still have college tuition to pay. One recent study concluded that unemployed workers do not have significant savings to carry their families through an extended period of unemployment. Unemployment rates normally replace less than half--50 percent--of lost wages. What this means is unemployed workers are draining their savings accounts just to survive. The problem is even more acute for the long-term unemployed. Many of those have drained their savings entirely. They have nothing left.”