Jay Rockefeller: “I am extremely frustrated that the Senate continues this debate, or whatever it is. It is already more than a day. We…”

“I am extremely frustrated that the Senate continues this debate, or whatever it is. It is already more than a day. We are dealing with the nominations of a handful of judges. That is not trivial. I understand that. As a Senate, we have a responsibility to address the most urgent issues facing our Nation. Unemployment insurance for those who are unemployed, I think, happens to be one of them. Today we are, embarrassingly, failing to live up to that responsibility. This morning I talked at some length about the crisis facing our Nation's manufacturing sector. I will not relent on that subject. As factories close down, people across this country are losing jobs, losing health care benefits and retirement benefits. As a country, we are losing the industrial base that is responsible for the greatness of this Nation. Some of the statistics I mentioned this morning I am going to repeat. Manufacturing employment is at a 41-year low, and more than 2 rac{1}{2} million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last couple of years. This morning I described legislation I introduced to address this manufacturing crisis. I happen to feel very strongly about that legislation.”