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This week in Congress, my colleagues and I passed legislation that
will extend federal unemployment benefits to the 8.4 million Americans
-- including 128,000 Arkansans -- who are currently out of work.
The passage of these unemployment benefits is a huge victory for the
millions of Americans who are unemployed. Before the extension of these
benefits takes effect, the Senate must pass the legislation, and the President
must sign the bill into law. And, I hope the Senate and the President will
recognize the dire need to pass this legislation. Because at the very least,
those who are looking for work deserve to have the peace of mind of knowing
they can pay their utility bills, and put food on their family's table.
The need to extend unemployment benefits is great. The federal
unemployment program expired at the end of last year, denying assistance
to approximately 90,000 people nationwide each week since December 21!
Even worse, the federal unemployment program expired over the holidays,
leaving those out of work who ran out of state unemployment benefits without
any federal help.
As your United States Representative, I will continue to fight for the
passage of legislation that will stimulate our economy, which will in turn
create new jobs. But our economy won't improve if we don't restore fiscal
responsibility to our government. Our government simply cannot continue
to spend money we don't have. There is no magic secret -- if a pressing
issue requires us to increase our spending - such as the added expense
of Homeland Security - our government must use good fiscal judgment,
and make cuts to other areas. |
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