Senate Proceeding on Oct 28th, 2009 :: 3:51:50 to 4:00:25
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3:51:47 to 3:52:08( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: cost curve down and produce a betterealth care outcome and result. i yield the floor. mr. brown: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. consent to address the senate morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i come to the floor not to answer my friend from utah,

3:51:50 to 4:00:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Sherrod Brown

3:52:09 to 3:52:30( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: senator the public option. i very much disagree with him, but i come to the -- we can have that lat, and we have in committees and other places. i would like to talk about the extension of unemployment benefits, which is as important as health care is in the next two months, to this country, to our economy, and to people's way of life. what we do in the next day or

3:52:31 to 3:52:51( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: two in unemployment extension is paramount. some 400,000 americans across the nation, in every state -- it doesn't matter if it's john mccain's state or barack obama's state. it doesn't matter if it's a big state or a small state, 400,000 americans exhausted their federal jobless benefits last month. 400,000. more than 14,000 americans --

3:52:52 to 3:53:12( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: i'm sorry. 14,000 ohioans are among the 200,000 americans who will lose their benefits this month if we don't act. by the end of the year, more than 64,000 ohioans will exhaust their unemployment benefits if there is no extension of benefits coming from the house, the senate, and the white house.

3:53:13 to 3:53:34( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: despite myepublican colleagues' efforts to dismiss the statistics, these are not just numbers. they're people in every state in our let me tell you about some ohioans who deserve more consideration than they're getting from my republican colleagues. sandra from van wert county in western ohio on the indiana border wrote me a letter saying "there are more than 300 of us

3:53:35 to 3:53:55( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: who are locked out of our factory in april, 2008. only a handful were able to get new jobs. this is a small town where 300 jobs are very, very hard replace. several of us went back to school unfortunately, only one person in our class has even gotten a job.

3:53:56 to 3:54:16( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: it's not that we're just sitting around collecting unemployment. we're trying to improve our skills and be gainfully employed. i had 30 years of employment in the same company. now i'm on my own. my unemployment r weeks. there are a lot of people who are running out of unemployment every day. i've used all but $200 of i know others in the situation. please help us."

3:54:17 to 3:54:38( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: madam president, i've thought lot about this issue as we've -- as i've read these letters and come to the floor and read them but read them in my office, and part of the problem is not very many of our colleagues really know any unemployed workers. not very many people in this body spend time with a single parent trying to -- trying to make ends meet, spend time with somebody who is just laid off

3:54:39 to 3:54:59( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: because of a plant closing. we don't spend enough time with small business owners. got a mom and pop operation. maybe she and her husband are running a store or something. they just can't make it because people have lost jobs in their neighborhood, in their communities. we don't see people like that. we don't spend our time with people who are really suffering. we don't see them enough

3:55:00 to 3:55:21( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: suffering in ourommunities. let me tell you about dawn from cuyahoga county, in northeastern ohio." i lost my job two weeks ago. my mher passed away six weeks afterward. if not for a friend who allows me to would be homeless. i have worked hard since i was 15. now i find myself applying for positions over and over.

3:55:22 to 3:55:42( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: i consider myself lucky when i get the exceedingly rare call for an interview, but if the proposed unemployment extension doesn't pass, i don't know how i will survive. please, senator, make whoever is blocking this extension see reason. who are really hurting." and there are a lot of people in -- there are a lot of people in charlotte and raleigh and durham, in the presiding officer's state.

3:55:43 to 3:56:04( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: there are people from zanesville to mansfield to xenia in my state who are trying as hard as they can to find jobs. they are barely getting along on their unemployment check. but if their unemployment runs out, they can't get it again. it's got to be extended before it runs out. that's why time is of the he essence. every day, republicans delay and obstruct more americans.

3:56:05 to 3:56:26( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: more american families will slip into poverty. it's not just a human tragedy. it's another blow to a tough economy that this country is enduring. poverty reduces consumer spending and for public assistance. that's two steps back without one step forward. and don't forget unemployment insurance is not retroactive. said that a minute ago.

3:56:27 to 3:56:48( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: i want to say it again. once unemployment insurance is exhausted, whether it's today, whether it's last week, whether it's last month, they are not eligible for the extension, so we've got to do this. every day we wait hurts another hundreds and hundreds of families in ohio and north carolina all over. the senate bill would extend unemployment insurance for 14

3:56:49 to 3:57:09( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: weeks to all states, plus an additional six weeks in high unemplment states. those states above 8.5% unemployment like ohio. this means unemployed workers like in ohio, like sandra and dawn whoseetters i shared would receive a total of 20 weeks compensation. again, they are not choosing to

3:57:10 to 3:57:30( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: sit home and get unemployment. as can you see from some of these letters, people are driving -- if they are in rural areas, they are driving county by county. if they are in urban areas, they are knocking on doors over and over to try to find jobs. the unemployment insurance i the recovery act has kept 800,000 people out of poverty. that's -- that means fewer americans on medicaid. it means fewer americans with income assistance, with food

3:57:31 to 3:57:51( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: stamps, with other public assistance programs. this is an insurance policy. is isn't welfare. this is an insuranceolicy that workers every paycheck pay something into the employment, to the insurance every dollar -- it's not just what it does to help these workers. every dollar in federal extended benefits produces $1.64 in economic growth.

3:57:52 to 3:58:12( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: it's not like they're taking this money that this -- this tech of $200 or $300 a week in unempl are investing in a factory in china. it's not likthey are just blowing this money. they are using this money to buy school clothes for their kids. they're using this money to buy food. maybe even to get to go to a

3:58:13 to 3:58:33( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: movie once every month or two. maybe they are putting some money in the church plate. whatever they are doing, they are spending this money, they are not holding it. that's why it's $1.64 in economic growth with every dollar we send into a community in unemployment act. unemployment insurance pumps pumps $19 billion in the economy.

3:58:34 to 3:58:56( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: i wonder how many much economic act have been lost without unemployment insurance putting dollars into workers' pockets, laidoff workers' pockets into local communities, boosting consumption saving jobs. how much longer are we going to let people like melody from east central ohio go without the insurance they nd?

3:58:57 to 3:59:17( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: melody wrote "we need help all around ohio. i look for work every week. i travel 75-100 miles going in every direction. going southeast to noble county, going to belmont county, going to harrison and washington. after making phone calls, i have been told not to call back

3:59:18 to 3:59:40( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: because there are no jobs. my employment is running out. what am i supposed to do to find a job?" that's melody from guernsey county. it's unacceptable, it's irresponsible. unfortunately, it's par for the course. the republicans seem to want to play politics, come up with all kinds of amendments that don't have anything to do with extending unemployment but it just helps them with

3:59:41 to 4:00:01( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: their messang for the next election. it helps them score political points with the newspapers back home and score big political points with talk radio that cheers them on and just says keep doing it, keep trying to embarrass the democrats. the fact is they are not republican workers or independent workers. these are people who lost their jobs.

4:00:02 to 4:00:23( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: these are people who need assistance. these are people who want to go back to work. these are people who will benefit not just for the unempl get, but the money it puts into the community so there will be job growth in the months ahead and the people will, in fact, get back to work so they won't need our unemployment benefits. we need our republican

4:00:24 to 4:00:25( Edit History Discussion )

Sherrod Brown: colleagues to start putting