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Weekly Address: President Obama – Pass Bipartisan Legislation to Extend Unemployment Benefits

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From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, President Obama said Congress should act to extend emergency unemployment insurance for more than one million Americans who have lost this vital economic lifeline while looking for a job. Letting emergency unemployment insurance expire not only harms American families, but it is also a drag on the overall economy. The President urges both parties to pass the bipartisan three-month extension under consideration in the Senate so that we can once again focus on expanding opportunities for the middle class and creating jobs for all hardworking Americans.

Transcript: Time to Pass Bipartisan Legislation to Extend Emergency Unemployment Insurance

Hi, everybody, and Happy New Year.

This is a time when we look ahead to all the possibilities and opportunities of the year to come – when we resolve to better ourselves, and to better our relationships with one another.  And today, I want to talk about one place that Washington should start – a place where we can make a real and powerful difference in the lives of many of our fellow Americans right now.

Just a few days after Christmas, more than one million of our fellow Americans lost a vital economic lifeline – the temporary insurance that helps folks make ends meet while they look for a job. Republicans in Congress went home for the holidays and let that lifeline expire.  And for many of their constituents who are unemployed through no fault of their own, that decision will leave them with no income at all.

We make this promise to one another because it makes a difference to a mother who needs help feeding her kids while she’s looking for work; to a father who needs help paying the rent while learning the skills to get a new and better job.  And denying families that security is just plain cruel.  We’re a better country than that.  We don’t abandon our fellow Americans when times get tough – we keep the faith with them until they start that new job.

What’s more, it actually slows down the economy for all of us.  If folks can’t pay their bills or buy the basics, like food and clothes, local businesses take a hit and hire fewer workers.  That’s why the independent Congressional Budget Office says that unless Congress restores this insurance, we’ll feel a drag on our economic growth this year.  And after our businesses created more than two million new jobs last year, that’s a self-inflicted wound we don’t need.

So when Congress comes back to work this week, their first order of business should be making this right.  Right now, a bipartisan group in Congress is working on a three-month extension of unemployment insurance – and if they pass it, I will sign it.  For decades, Republicans and Democrats put partisanship and ideology aside to offer some security for job-seekers, even when the unemployment rate was lower than it is today.  Instead of punishing families who can least afford it, Republicans should make it their New Year’s resolution to do the right thing, and restore this vital economic security for their constituents right now.

After all, our focus as a country this year shouldn’t be shrinking our economy, but growing it; not narrowing opportunity, but expanding it; not fewer jobs, but doing everything we can to help our businesses create more of the good jobs that a growing middle class requires.

That’s my New Year’s resolution – to do everything I can, every single day, to help make 2014 a year in which more of our citizens can earn their own piece of the American Dream.

After five years of working and sacrificing to recover and rebuild from crisis, we have it within our power, right now, to move this country forward.  It’s entirely up to us.  And I’m optimistic for the year that lies ahead.

Thank you, and have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

~

Editor’s Note: The President’s Weekly Address diary is also the weekend open news thread. Feel free to leave links to other news items in the comment threads.


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20 comments

  1. JanF

    Just a few days after Christmas, more than one million of our fellow Americans lost a vital economic lifeline – the temporary insurance that helps folks make ends meet while they look for a job. Republicans in Congress went home for the holidays and let that lifeline expire.

    … denying families that security is just plain cruel. We’re a better country than that.  

    It is cruel … and I welcome this new years resolution. We have an election to win in November and not mincing words about the cruelty of Republicans in Congress will help that cause.

    We are a better country than that. And We The People will prove that on November 4th.

  2. JanF

    Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)* spent some time with a homeless man and found one of the things that impedes a job search is not having an address:

    What was really holding Nick back, however, was his lack of an address. Even though Nick has worked for 20 years and has an impressive résumé, he’s caught in something of a catch-22, Murphy told ThinkProgress by phone Thursday. “He can’t get a job without a permanent address and can’t get a permanent address without a job.” Nick used the address of the shelter on applications, but some employers might harbor prejudice against those who can’t afford a home.

    “Nick” will now lose the $100 a week he was getting in unemployment benefits.

    *How refreshing is it to have a Connecticut senator who is a real Democrat (not a LieberDem) and who chooses to spend a day with a homeless man in order to, literally, walk a mile in his shoes:

    For Murphy, the day was an opportunity to learn more about an issue that too often gets ignored among both local and national policymakers. After all, the senator told ThinkProgress, “There’s a limited amount you can learn about the reality of homelessness when you’re just sitting at a conference table.”

    This isn’t the first time he stepped outside the comfort zone to experience how those in poverty live. In May, Murphy was among 26 lawmakers who participated in a challenge to spend a week living on $4.50 per day, the amount of money afforded to recipients of food stamps, in order to highlight GOP-backed cuts to the program.

    “As sobering as a day like this is,” Murphy said, “it’s slightly inspirational to hear somebody who’s been through what these guys have been through still believing there’s better days coming up soon.” But, he noted to ThinkProgress, “it’s unacceptable that people in the richest state in the richest nation in the world should have to live this dehumanizing experience.”

  3. JanF

    Van Hollen: Senate Should Pressure Boehner On Unemployment Insurance

    “I hope 2014 will be a better year in Congress than 2013, which was certainly, in the House of Representatives, a black hole,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said during an appearance on MSNBC. “Look, if the Senate can get this passed in the Senate, and Harry Reid has made this priority number one, that will create some momentum in the House. And Speaker Boehner, I think, will be under more pressure to do something.”

    Senate Democratic leaders plan on holding a procedural vote early next week to extend unemployment benefits. Success is uncertain as Democrats will need 60 votes to advance any proposal.

  4. JanF

    Obama Administration Moves To Alter Gun-Buying Rules

    Federal agencies are proposing new rules for handling gun buyers’ background checks, in changes the Obama administration says will “keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands.” The changes include a clarification of rules barring firearm possession due to mental health problems.

    That part of the plan involves the Department of Justice, which is proposing the term “committed to a mental institution,” which appears in its gun ownership regulations, be accepted to include “a person committed to involuntary inpatient or outpatient treatment.”

    The Justice Department is also seeking other changes, largely dealing with the definition of mental competence. People found to be incompetent to stand trial, for instance, could be barred from owning a gun whether the determination comes from a “state, local, federal or military court,” the agency said.

    The proposals were posted on the Federal Register Friday.

    The president said he would do whatever he could via executive action to promote commonsense gun safety measures. Since Congress can’t or won’t act, he is working on finding other ways to keep guns out of the hands of unstable people.

  5. JanF

    When will we get the verdict on Obamacare?

    The rollout of the Affordable Care Act has been unquestionably rocky, but the rush to judgment was over the top. Critics had their knives out even though little data are available on initial program enrollment and success. It’s much too early to declare the program either a failure or a success.[…]

    More than 3 million young adults have gained insurance coverage after family coverage was extended through age 26. Since the law passed, closing Medicare’s “doughnut hole” allowed more than 7 million seniors and disabled people to save an average of $1,200 per person on prescription drugs.

    Consumers have saved about $5 billion over the past two years through requirements that insurers spend at least 80% of the premium dollar on care for patients. And 71 million Americans with private insurance, as well as 25 million enrollees in Medicare, have gained coverage for at least one free preventive service.

    He cites the March 31st date (the last day to get coverage or pay the penalty), the end of May when insurers release their rates for 2015, and the fall of 2014 when the government will report on the insurance program as key dates.

    He rightly points out that we can’t be impatient:

    This timetable might seem long, but a change as large as the ACA takes time. We must be patient in evaluating that change. Once the data come in, and enough time for the law to be fully implemented has passed, we can truly draw conclusions about this signature episode in the history of U.S. social policy.

    Our 10 minute news cycle and horse-race “journalism” demands that the winners and losers be identified now … so that we can get on to the Next Big Story. But this is not just a “story”: it is, as he states, a significant social policy change.  

  8. JanF

    2014 politics will begin in earnest tomorrow.

    Obama Hoping Congress Makes Baby Steps In 2014

    Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House enters the new year buoyed by the “modest amount of legislative momentum” generated by the December budget deal.

    “We’re hopeful Congress can build on it and make progress on other priorities where common ground exists,” Earnest said.

    It won’t take long to test that proposition, with debates on unemployment insurance, budget spending and the government’s borrowing limit expected in quick succession in the opening weeks of the year.

    If all three can be resolved in drama-free fashion – by Washington standards, of course – the White House believes it could create a more favorable atmosphere for Obama to pursue second-term priorities such as an immigration overhaul and a higher minimum wage, though both would still face steep odds.

    The battle for the higher minimum wage needs to be engaged now. It will be what we run on in 2014, just like how the right-wing ran on anti-gay marriage referendums in 2004. Put minimum wage on the ballot, and some good Democratic candidates along with them, and run on raising the standard of living for everyone. It is time that the American people get payback for putting their money on the line to bail out Wall Street in 2008/2009.  

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