Continuing Extension Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

Continuing Extension Act Of 2010

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, when I have come to the floor over the last few months, I have always tried to focus on ways to bring parties together, both sides to work for common solutions--whether it's health care, the new tax reform bill Senator Gregg and I have introduced, or the Build America Bonds program put together by Senator Thune and I, which has clearly been a huge success in terms of revolutionizing the system for funding transportation and infrastructure. Senator Cornyn and I are working on a significant crime bill. So I am always going to come to this floor and try to be bipartisan and bring both sides together.

On this question of helping folks who are so desperately hurting today--including so many in my State, where we have a very high unemployment rate--I want to suggest a bipartisan path forward that I hope we can look at in the days ahead. I see my friend from Georgia here, who also wants to work on these major economic issues in a bipartisan way.

When you listened to colleagues last night and this morning, it seems to me there is agreement on two fundamental principles. One is that it is absolutely essential to help folks who are hurting now. We have millions of Americans walking on an economic tightrope; balancing their food bill against their fuel bill; trying to pay for essentials; going to bed every night, whether in Colorado, Oregon, or Georgia, figuring out if they are going to be able to pay the bills when they wake up in the morning. So there is agreement on both sides that you have to help folks who are hurting now. There is also agreement that we have to deal with this deficit, and the spending issue which is contributing to the deficit for the long term. So, in effect, we start the possibility of a bipartisan strategy around agreement in two key areas: We have to help folks now who are hurting, and we have to deal with those major deficits, the revenue and spending problems, in the long term.

What there is disagreement on, it seems to me, is the timing of these particular debates. I and others feel very strongly that it is just not right to compound the hurt Americans are suffering, even for a few weeks, even for a few days. That is why we very much want, before we go home, to have this worked out and to get this unemployment benefits extension to them.

We also recognize that getting at this long-term budget issue quickly is a matter of national urgency. I sit on the Budget Committee. We are going to
have a chance to do that in April, within 30 days.

So what you see is, in effect, all of the various ideas with respect to extending unemployment so that folks who are hurting so badly do not go without for a short period of time--a week, 2 weeks, 30 days--a variety of different approaches. All of those time periods are shorter than the time period for when we will have an our opportunity to make tough decisions for the long term that we have heard Democrats and Republicans talking about this morning.

So I hope that we can get back to working in a bipartisan way around those two areas of agreement that will help folks who are hurting now, help them quickly, not have them suffer any more, even for a few additional days, and that we recognize that in April, on the Budget Committee on which I serve, we will have the opportunity to tackle the larger budget issues. We have very strong bipartisan leadership between Senator Conrad and Senator Gregg. A lot of us thought they were right on their debt commission. I supported that, supported it for a long time. So we have an opportunity to make those long-term budget decisions Democrats and Republicans rightly have said are so important, beginning next month. So let's do both. Let's help people who are hurting now and recognize how serious the challenge is with respect to the long term as well.

The only other point I would make with respect to the unemployment extension is a point made by a number of our country's leading economists who are advising both Republicans and Democrats, again, in a bipartisan fashion. Mark Zandi, for example, one of our leading economists who is relied on by individuals of both political parties, has pointed out that for every dollar of unemployment, our country gets $1.64 in return. The folks who are unemployed spend their benefits as quickly as they can get them. They spend them only on essentials. They spend them on the essentials of life.

It is pretty obvious that consumer spending is a very significant part of economic recovery. The economic recovery is obviously fragile. We have so many folks out of work, and those folks and the folks who are worried about losing their jobs put off spending on anything but the most basic needs. So obviously that slowdown in consumer spending also takes a toll on our economy. If we are going to make up for the decline in consumer spending, one obvious way, it seems to me, is to get this extra help to folks who are hurting so badly today in our country.

So it strikes me that the decision to not get help to people immediately is simply illogical. It is bad from the standpoint of economic recovery. It is obviously going to compound the hurt Americans who are out of work are experiencing now, and colleagues on both sides of the aisle have said they don't want that to happen.

So I am very hopeful that even before the end of the day, for the folks who are out of work, who are exhausting their unemployment and COBRA benefits--that there will be discussions here in the Senate to try to make sure folks are not denied the bare minimums that are needed to just get by and not denied even for just a few days. The fact is, these are folks who are making $250, $300 a week. None of them are living a life of leisure. No one can say these folks are somehow, as a result of their benefits, disinclined to find work. They are not part of ``Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.'' They are the millions who today walk that economic tightrope, always feeling that another big bill is going to push them into the abyss where they cannot afford to pay the rent, cannot afford to pay the utility bill, cannot afford food. It is not right to let these folks suffer.

I would submit that on a matter such as this, which is, in my view, a question of right and wrong, that is what extending unemployment benefits for a short period of time to prevent human suffering is all about, that we stay at this effort so folks who are hurting so badly in our country do not lose out, if even for only a few days. I will be at my post to continue to work and talk with colleagues of both political parties toward that end. We have to stay at it to ensure there is no break in the essential benefits the most vulnerable of our country so desperately needs.

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