Articles
Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010
Washington, DC,
July 22, 2010
July 22, 2010 I stand in full support of this emergency legislation that will restore the safety net to millions of American families. Those families have been waiting for this relief since June. Their faith in us has been tested, but today we are going to extend the help that they need. I have spoken many times on this floor of the legendary mayor of Boston, James Michael Curley, a great orator. Curley spoke with great empathy about the forgotten man, and that's whom we're talking about today, the forgotten man and the forgotten woman, those individuals who have worked hard and played by the rules and have every reason to believe that America ought to provide them assistance in this difficult time. He also would suggest that, in simplicity, the great ally of our civilization was a full stomach. We need to be reminded of that grim economic statistic for those who are outside the mainstream. Let me also remind our friends here on the other side, in record time, in October of 2008, this Congress came to the aid of Wall Street. It didn't take us long to embrace the Troubled Asset Relief Program of George Bush to keep standing many of those institutions that helped create the problem that we currently find ourselves in. There are millions of people, those who have served in Vietnam, those who have served in Afghanistan, and those who have served in Iraq and other theaters around the world, who are struggling in this economy. America is about building a community, a place where no one wants to be abandoned and no one wants to be left behind. The great bounty of God's work has been to ensure that people in America, regardless of their political differences, have enough to eat and shelter. This opportunity to extend unemployment benefits for the American people ought to meet this moment, and I urge adoption of this measure. |