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I rise today to join my colleagues in calling on the Senate to pass an extension of emergency
unemployment insurance.
I am deeply disappointed and frustrated that millions of hard-working Americans are now
wondering how they will put food on their family's table and a roof over their heads
because Washington has been unable to extend critical unemployment insurance. A few weeks
ago we had a bipartisan vote to move forward with debate on the extension of what is called
Emergency Unemployment Compensation. I hope we can build on that vote and move forward
as quickly as possible to restore this vital lifeline before more Americans -- who have
worked hard and followed the rules their entire lives -- slip from the middle class into poverty.
The expiration of emergency unemployment insurance is an urgent problem for tens of thousands
of Minnesotans and millions of Americans. At the end of this past year, unemployment
insurance expired for 1.3 million Americans, including 8,500 Minnesotans. If we don't renew
that unemployment insurance, over the next year, this lifeline will run out for another
3.6 million people, including 65,500 Minnesotans.
These are real people, real Minnesotans, whose families and local communities are struggling.
As I've traveled around Minnesota, I've had the chance to speak with many of the Minnesotans
who are affected by the expiration of unemployment insurance. It's not the fault of these workers
that they lost their jobs. Very often, these workers were just unlucky enough to be working
in the wrong sector of the economy. Sometimes they were from communities that lost a large
employer.
A few weeks ago, I held a roundtable with unemployed workers who have been helped by
unemployment insurance and some workforce professionals who are helping people find a job in today's recovering economy.
The unemployed women I spoke with -- Ann, Amy and Robin --had been working for decades
and paying taxes for unemployment insurance for decades. One woman is in her forties,
a single mother with two kids - one a 3-year-old child. The other two women are older workers
in their fifties and sixties. One was a meeting planner. When the recession hit, businesses
cut costs by holding fewer meetings, and she has had a hard time finding a job.
These women and all of the
Minnesotans I've spoken with have been working hard to find a job, but they face a tough
job situation in our economy. In November, the Labor Department reported that for every
job opening, there were almost three people seeking jobs. But that doesn't mean you'll
get a job if you apply for three jobs. A few weeks ago, a job counselor in Minnesota told
me that there are often hundreds of applicants for every good job posting --and that these
jobs are often filled internally. I'm glad that the businesses are promoting from within,
but it's stories like these that highlight why we need emergency unemployment -- to help
those workers who are unfortunate enough to work in a sector that has experienced a major
downturn or live in a community where it's particularly hard to find a job.
One of the women I met at the roundtable, Ann from Eden Prairie, had also written me.
What she told me really illustrates the situation so many Minnesotans are facing. Ann wrote,
"I have been extremely active in my job search, but have regrettably not found new employment.
My Minnesota Unemployment Insurance ran out last week and I applied for Federal Emergency
Unemployment Compensation just this past week... I ask you to please ask yourself what you
would do to provide for your family. I have a 9 year old daughter ...and a three year
old son. I am the sole provider for my family...I am not looking for a handout, nor do I believe
that staying on unemployment insurance is in my best interest. But the $483 a week it
provides will at least allow me to make my mortgage payment."
Minnesotans like Ann and the millions of Americans around the country in the same situation - many
of whom have worked for decades - don't deserve to be punished or lose their homes because they are unable to
find a job within 26 weeks.
The economy is recovering, but things are still tough for many people. Now is not the
time to cut off unemployment insurance. Not only is unemployment still above average,
but the long-term unemployed --workers who have been looking for work for at least six
months -- make up 37 percent of today's unemployed. Congress has never allowed extended unemployment
insurance to expire when the long-term unemployment rate is as high as it is today. Today, the
2.5 percent long-term unemployment rate is nearly double the level when previous emergency
benefits were allowed to expire. And the current unemployment rate of 6.7 percent is 1.1 percentage
points higher than when President George W. Bush signed the current round of emergency
unemployment compensation into law. So we know that the unemployment crisis is not over.
It remains a significant issue for workers, especially older workers, who experience longer
periods of unemployment than younger workers when they lose their jobs.
Extending unemployment insurance also makes economic sense. In 2011, the Congressional
Budget Office stated that aid to the unemployed is among the policies with, "the largest effects
on output and employment per dollar of budgetary cost." CBO estimates that extending benefits
through 2014 would help expand the economy and contribute to the creation of an additional
200,000 jobs. The Council of Economic Advisers estimates that without a full-year extension,
the economy will generate 240,000 fewer jobs by the end of 2014.
Unemployment insurance has been shown to help people stay in the workforce, allowing them
to contribute to our economic recovery, rather than letting people slip into poverty. The
Census Bureau estimates that unemployment benefits kept 2.5 million people who are trying
to stay in the workforce out of poverty in 2012 alone and have kept over 11 million unemployed
workers out of poverty since 2008.
Extending unemployment insurance for those who need it is far from the only thing we
should be doing to help people get back to work. I've spoken many times about one of
my highest priorities in this area -- addressing the skills gaps by supporting workforce training
partnerships between businesses and community and technical colleges. And there are other
things we should be doing. But it would be a tremendous mistake to fail to renew the
unemployment insurance that has lapsed.
When people like Ann and millions of others are looking really hard for jobs, we should not be pulling the rug
out from them. They are trying to catch up in an economy that is recovering, but that
still has a long way to go. We shouldn't be jeopardizing their families' economic security
and we shouldn't be jeopardizing our nation's economic recovery with a short-sighted decision
to let this critical safety-net expire.
Thank you.