Washington, DC--Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) issued the following statement today following the House passage of H.R. 4213, the Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act.  The measure passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 272 to 152 (9 not voting), following its long-delayed passage by the Senate yesterday.  It will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature. Republicans in the Senate filibustered the last several attempts to approve unemployment benefits for those still unemployed and looking for work before the filibuster was finally broken on Tuesday.    Unfortunately, every other provision in the legislation, including many job-creating programs and vital tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses, was stripped out to get enough Republican votes to break the filibuster.

“House Democrats continue to fight struggling Americans as our nation continues its long recovery from the historic recession which almost collapsed our economy.  Meanwhile, most Republicans continue to use them as a political pawn to score points with their base in a shameless attempt to win back power. 

“This legislation extends unemployment benefits to millions of American families and workers. Millions of people have lost weeks of benefits, after exhausting their state-paid benefits, due to the Republican filibuster in the Senate.  The extension is retroactive, but that will not help those who have already had their car repossessed, or defaulted on a loan after months of waiting for help.

“I don’t think most Republicans truly understand what out-of-work Americans are going through.  These are serious times and require action with hard choices.   I find it hard to believe that the same party which gave us unpaid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is taking a hard line against allowing Americans unemployed through no fault of their own to pay their mortgages and keep food on the table.   They have no problem permitting the almost $700 billion in Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to be extended and add to the debt, but to them just help for millions of vulnerable Americans is a budget buster.

“Even with the bold steps taken by Congress and President Obama, recovery for far too many of the families hurt by the recession will take time and it will take support from the federal government.  No one chooses to be out of work, but until more jobs are created we must help them.  Doing so will benefit the rest of the economy.  I call on my Senate colleagues to now address the scores of job-creating and tax-reducing measures the House has sent to them so we can help put Americans back to work.”

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