Ranking Member Doggett's Opening Statement on Extending Unemployment Benefits

Today in America the problemwe face is unemployment, not the unemployed. Too many Americans remainunemployed because of lack of work, not for their lack of wanting to work. Wemust stop the "blame the victim" approach of just blaming unemployment on theunemployed.

Thus far this year, we haveyet to vote on a single meaningful jobs bill, and threats to default on our debtand to shutdown the government have only further set back economic recovery andcost us job growth.

There is a great difference inthis country between those resting comfortably atop the economic ladder-- whodon't have to worry about unemployment insurance thanks to lavish severancepackages -- and the rest of America.

Last month, an executive wasejected from HP, Hewlett-Packard with a $13 million golden parachute after hiscompany's stock price dropped by half. Meanwhile, it was reported that theranks of the working-age poor are at their highest level in more than 50 years. Luxury goods continue to fly off the shelf, but Walmart reduced the size of itspackages of toilet tissue because too many people could not afford the regularsize. When folks lose a job through no fault of their own, the least we can dois extend a lifeline.

Today, we will examine thoseportions of the President's American Jobs Act related to unemployment, includingan extension of Federal unemployment insurance and several new initiativesdesigned to help the unemployed return to work. If Congress fails to act byDecember 31, more than two million Americans will lose their unemploymentbenefits by the middle of February, and a total of over 6 million will losebenefits during 2012.

The President's proposal is agood place to start in addressing this problem—that doesn't mean that I think hehas all the answers or even necessarily the best answers on some aspects of thisproblem. But I especially would emphasize the need to renew extendedunemployment assistance.

Terminating unemploymentassistance would hurt our nation's economy by further suppressing consumerdemand and confidence. The Economic Policy Institute has estimated thatallowing the extended Federal unemployment program to expire this year wouldcost our Nation over 500,000 jobs. This amounts to a double-whammy for theunemployed– they lose their benefits and jobs become even more difficult tolocate.

And there is near unanimityamong economists that few government expenditures have more positive,stimulative effect on our economy than insurance payments to the unemployed, whoof necessity must spend those dollars promptly for the necessities oflife.

But things could get evenworse for the unemployed under spending plans recently released by the HouseAppropriations Committee. This bill would cut funding for job training andemployment services by 75 percent. So even as 14 million Americans struggle tofind work, Republicans are preparing to make extraordinary cuts. No benefits,no training and no jobs equals no future for our Nation'sunemployed.

While vital, unemploymentbenefits are not generous. The average benefit of $300 a week reaches onlyabout 70 percent of the poverty line for a family of four. Most unemployed wantvery much to work, but there are simply not enough jobs to go around. Even withthe 2 million private-sector jobs that have been created over the last year andhalf, there remain roughly 7 million fewer jobs in the economy today than whenthe "Great Recession" started in December, 2007, during the Bush-CheneyAdministration. This jobs deficit means that today in America there are over4.3 unemployed workers for every available job. And that is why so often whennew jobs are announced, the line of jobseekers stretches around thecorner.

And while there has been muchballyhooing about the so-called Texas miracle, the unemployment rate in my state-- 8.5% -- stands higher today that at any time in the last 25 years. Our stateis also a good example of what happens when ideological constraints andpolitical imperatives produce decisions that harm both employees and employers. Texas employers are paying more because Governor Perry insisted that some of theunemployed receive less. Because the Governor rejected $555 million in federalsupport for the unemployed in 2009, Texas is now raising additional taxes onemployers and incurring more public debt. Though we may not have as high anunemployment rate as in Ohio or Michigan, we have over 100,000 long-termunemployed workers who will lose their lifeline if these benefits are notextended.

Let's hope that this hearingis just the first step in forging a clear consensus that we must not abandon themillions of Americans, who depend on unemployment insurance to make ends meet,at the same time that they are actively seeking a new job. Let's work togetherto move our economy forward and increase the opportunity for folks looking forwork to find it.