Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes to discuss the unemployment insurance extension bill currently being considered. There is little question that the job market remains tight providing…
Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes to discuss the unemployment insurance extension bill currently being considered. There is little question that the job market remains tight providing few job opportunities for those who are currently unemployed. The unemployment rate remains at historically high levels of around 6.7 percent. However, the unemployment rate only tells part of the story. Millions of Americans have become discouraged and left the labor market entirely or are underemployed. When you consider these Americans, the unemployment rate isn't 6.7 percent, but a much starker 12.7 percent.
It is obvious from these numbers that many Americans continue to struggle in the face of a historically tepid recovery. Republicans and Democrats agree that there are things we can and should do to help the millions of Americans who are out of work and struggling to make ends meet. However, we have conflicting views on the best way to achieve this goal.
In 2008, Congress established the extended Emergency Unemployment Compensation program that provided Federal funded unemployment insurance benefits to the long-term unemployed. This benefit was on top of the 26 weeks of unemployment compensation ordinarily provided by the States. This program was never meant to go on forever. It is a temporary program that was designed to provide relief while we were in the depths of a recession.
This program has since been extended 11 times and we are now debating extending it for the 12th. There are reasonable arguments that at this time the emergency unemployment benefits should be extended once more. But if we are to extend the emergency unemployment program it should be done in a fiscally responsible way.
While the majority argues that the extension is fully offset, this is only true through a budgetary sleight of hand. The largest offset used to pay for the unemployment program is a so-called pension smoothing provision. This provision essentially allows sponsors of pension plans to underfund their pensions over the next few years. This raises concerns that pensions could be underfunded in future years, hurting pensioners, and potentially putting taxpayers on the hook for these plans should they need be taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
The Joint Committee on Taxation, JCT, estimates that over the long term the provision will actually cost the Treasury billions of dollars in revenue. As a result, the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, and JCT estimate that overall the bill before us would increase deficits by more than $5 billion between 2024 and 2033.
Moreover, while an extension of emergency employment benefits is well intentioned, it serves only to treat the symptoms of unemployment, while doing nothing to address its cause. Instead of the debate we are having on extending unemployment benefits we should be focused on what can be done to ensure those who want to work are able to find good paying jobs.
Republicans have offered such an approach with the Good Jobs, Good Wages, and Good Hours Act, which was filed as an amendment to the underlying unemployment insurance bill.
This amendment is targeted at job creation be providing small businesses who are responsible for creating 70 percent of jobs in our economy with permanent tax relief aimed at incentivizing new investments. It would further cut red tape that imposes unnecessary burdens on job creators and would modify or repeal provisions of Obamacare that are proven job killers. Moreover, the amendment would spur job creation by increasing energy development by, amongst other things, authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. I ask unanimous consent that a summary of this amendment be printed in the Record.
Unfortunately, the majority leader filled the amendment tree, thereby blocking all amendments. This prevented us from having an up-or-down vote on the jobs amendment I just described as well as several other amendments that sought to improve the underlying bill. As a result, the underlying bill is not fiscally responsible and would do nothing to address the causes of weak job creation. As such, I cannot in good conscience vote in favor of extending unemployment insurance at this time.
