Endless Frontier Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, earlier this month, the Department of Labor's jobs report showed an uptick of the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent and employers only adding 266,000 jobs, despite widespread projections of approximately 1 million jobs to be gained in April.

To call this a dismal jobs report would be an understatement. It was the worst jobs miss since 1998. Yet it is not surprising considering the many conversations I have had with Kansans throughout my travels. I have heard constantly how employers are struggling to find people for open jobs, largely because folks are staying at home due to the increased unemployment dollars and the stimulus checks that Democrats continue to push.

Earlier this year, Democrats forced through legislation--without any Republican support--that provided $300 more per week in Federal unemployment benefits. This additional benefit, when coupled with the extended unemployment benefits offered by States, already means that the average recipient is making $15 to $20 per hour to stay home.

Democrats have made it more profitable for many Americans to stay unemployed. That is because these policies are not intended to help our economic recovery. They are intended to reform our American system and create more dependency on the government.

This leap toward socialism comes at a time when our Nation is on its way to reaching herd immunity and businesses are emerging from government-imposed lockdowns. Now President Biden has delivered them a government-funded labor shortage.

I recently heard from a wonderful small business in my hometown of Great Bend, KS, that are short-staffed by some 70 employees--that is 70 employees they are short-staffed. They are unable to match the strong incentive to stay home provided by the Federal unemployment benefits in order to rehire their workforce. The company's mission is to provide educational and work opportunities for people with developmental disabilities, giving nearly 200 individuals in the area the independence, inclusion, and training that they need to achieve success. This labor shortage directly affects their ability to meet the needs of the people they serve.

I have heard stories from manufacturers across Kansas struggling to recall their workers, despite offering generous benefits and high-wage jobs or restaurants remaining closed because they don't have enough employees for their basic operations.

Homes aren't being built because of a lack of labor, and hotels are turning away business because they don't have employees. One company even shared a story of offering a high-skilled and high-wage position only to be turned down because the prospective employee claimed they were comfortable on unemployment, and the hours clashed with the local bowling league.

We have seen the broader supply chain begin to feel the impacts, as a lack of truckdrivers means that building materials, computer chips, and common household goods like toothpaste and toilet paper can't reach their destination, or food processing plants are short-staffed and turning out less product than usual, driving up the cost for consumers.

Coupled with the trillions of Federal dollars that have gone out the door so far, we are beginning to see inflation. In fact, the Department of Labor's recently released consumer price index for April showed the largest spike in inflation since 2008.

There are a record 8 million jobs--that is 8 million opportunities waiting to be filled across this country. In my home State of Kansas, we have 57,000 job openings, and the March labor report shows over 58,000 Kansans received unemployment insurance.

While there are certainly people who need access to increased unemployment benefits during the heart of this pandemic, unemployment insurance was never meant to be a permanent salary replacement.

Rather, the benefit is meant to provide temporary assistance while folks get back on their feet. The government should not be in the business of creating lucrative government dependency that makes it more beneficial to stay unemployed rather than return to work. That is called socialism.

Nearly half of the States have halted the additional benefits, and I have called for the Democratic Governor from my home State to do the same. Unfortunately, no State in the Union with a Democratic executive has stepped up and dropped the benefits, despite many of these States having the highest unemployment rates in the country. Instead, Democrats in Congress are moving to make the enhanced benefits permanent.

For all these reasons, last week, 15 of my colleagues joined me in introducing the Get Americans Back to Work Act, which decreases Federal unemployment benefits to $150 per week at the end of May and then fully repeals them altogether at the end of June. Not only will this help get people back to work but the savings generated can be used to pay for roads and bridges.

Let me close by saying ``work'' is not a four-letter, dirty word. A job brings dignity and purpose to all who have one. Over the past year, we have made great strides to develop safe and effective vaccines. Because more Americans are getting their shots, we have seen COVID cases decline to nearly a quarter of where they were in January. Now is the time for folks to get back to work, to get our kids back in school, and get our economy back to prepandemic levels.

S. 1260

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