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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Now, I've heard the argument that says extending unemployment
insurance will somehow hurt the unemployed because it saps their motivation to get a
new job. I -- I really want to -- I want to go at this for a second. (Audience murmurs.)
I -- you know, I -- (applause) -- that really sells the American people short. I meet a
lot of people as president of the United States and as a candidate for president of the United
States and as a U.S. senator and as a state senator. I -- I meet a lot of people. And
I can't -- I can't name a time where I met an American who would rather have an unemployment
check than the pride of having a job. (Applause.)
The
long-term unemployed are not lazy. They're not lacking in motivation. They're coping
with the aftermath of the worst economic crisis in generations. In some cases, they may have
a skills mismatch, right? They may have been doing a certain job for 20 years. Suddenly
they lose that job.
They may be an older worker, may have to get retrained. It's hard. Sometimes employers
will discriminate if you've been out of work for a while. They decide, well, we're not
sure we want to hire you; we'd rather hire somebody who's still working right now.
So it's hard out there. There are a lot of our friends, a lot of our neighbors who've
lost their jobs, and they are working their tails off every single day trying to find
a new job. Now, as the job market keeps getting better, more and more of these folks will
find work. But in the meantime, the insurance keeps them from falling off a cliff. It makes
sure they can pay their car note to go to that interview. It makes sure they can pay
their cellphone bill so that if somebody calls back for an interview, they can answer it.