FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007

Floor Speech

FAA REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - May 01, 2008)

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Ms. STABENOW. I thank our distinguished assistant majority leader for allowing me to do this. It is very important. I thank my colleague and friend, the champion from Massachusetts, for all of his efforts as they relate to the efforts to make sure college loans are available. Also I want to speak to the fact that we are working together to extend unemployment insurance benefits, and I greatly appreciate his leadership.

I want to specifically today speak to that piece of the effort we are working on together. Because since my colleagues across the aisle blocked extending critical unemployment benefits from the part of our first stimulus package, frankly, the situation has only gotten worse for families in Michigan and all across the country.

National unemployment is on the rise, with our Nation losing 80,000 jobs in March. It is stunning to me when we look at what is happening across the country. I have to say, these are not new kinds of numbers for us in Michigan. We have been seeing these kinds of numbers now for a number of years but we see nationally, in this last January, 76,000 jobs were lost; in February, 76,000 jobs were lost; in March, the highest number, 80,000 jobs were lost; 232,000 jobs cut in the past 3 months.

I remember coming to the floor and having colleagues say: Well, overall unemployment is not high. We do not have a problem. It is below 5 percent. Well, now it has crept up above 5 percent, and we are being told by Goldman Sachs and the Bureau of Labor Statistics that by January, this coming January, the national unemployment rate will be 6.5 percent.

We in Michigan would actually consider that a decrease, because ours is at 7.2 percent. But nationally when we look at that kind of steep increase in those people who are out of work, we need to be paying attention to this. Families, middle-class families, who have worked hard all their lives are finding themselves in a situation, due to no fault of their own, where they are looking for work, trying to keep their family together and, in fact, are looking for us to do what we have always done in times such as these, which is to extend unemployment benefits across the country for families, and particularly for those States that are hardest hit.

We have 10,000 people right now in Michigan every month who are losing unemployment benefits. That for us relates to the fact that we are one of the highest States in mortgage foreclosures, why people cannot afford to pay for their mortgage. So the ripple effect throughout the economy is staggering when we look at the fact that on top of what is happening to people who are losing their jobs and cannot afford their mortgage, their gas, when we look at what is happening with gas prices.

We in the majority have been coming to this floor and have been doing everything we can in putting forward proposals to deal with the high gas prices. We have not been able to get support from colleagues to truly address this, what needs to be addressed, and even putting food on people's tables and health insurance.

Everything is going up in the wrong direction, including the fact that people are now losing their unemployment benefits. We have been suffering in Michigan through several years of high unemployment, as I mentioned. We have 7.2 percent unemployment right now. In the first half of this year, over 72,000 people exhausted their unemployment benefits. But we are not alone. This is not only a Michigan problem anymore. Alaska, California, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Nevada, Missouri, Oregon, South Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, all have unemployment rates at or above 5.7 percent. Across the country, millions of Americans are losing what are insurance benefits. We are not talking about public assistance, we are talking about an insurance system that they paid into, that employees come into for these circumstances.

We have not seen the President's willingness, up to this point, to support extending unemployment benefits and, subsequently, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. This makes absolutely no sense. Frankly, from an economic standpoint, it makes no sense.

Moody's economy.com chief economist Mark Zandi estimates for every $1 spent on unemployment benefits, the economy is stimulated by $1.4. We knew that when we passed the original stimulus package. Rather than a rebate, many of us were arguing that the best way, the fastest way to stimulate the economy was to give dollars directly to people out of work, struggling to make their payments, who on average make 40 percent of their wage from this unemployment insurance system. The people would have to turn right around and go to the grocery store, buy clothes for their children, spend the dollars they receive in unemployment benefits in order to be able to keep going. What we have heard over and over again from colleagues on the other side of the aisle is: We should wait; we should wait; it is not that bad; it is not bad enough. I do not know how many times we have heard the President say, up until recently, ``Well, the underlying fundamentals of the economy are good'' or ``Things really are not as bad as people think.''

Well, they are. They are. The American people know that when they are being hit on all sides with rising costs and lower wages. So I am here today to urge my colleagues to come together to understand what American families are going through, and to support, strongly support, an extension of unemployment compensation.

Let me say in conclusion that this unfortunately is a pattern we have seen over and over again when it comes to blocking those programs that are critically important for American families. Over and over again we see colleagues filibustering issues, stopping us from moving forward on what makes a real difference in people's lives.

It is not only extending unemployment insurance for families and workers in Michigan and across the country, but it is part of a pattern of blocking and obstructing what is important to families in this very difficult economy. Last year my colleagues on the other side of the aisle blocked an energy tax bill that would have increased the production of renewable fuels and helped bring more advanced technology vehicles to the marketplace to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and begin to address what is happening on the gas price side of things.

But, unfortunately again, these efforts were blocked time and time again when we brought forward proposals that relate to energy and pricing and accountability for the industry. Moving tax breaks from oil companies to alternative fuels or to consumers, we have been blocked. I have to say also in conclusion today that once again, a critical issue to this safety of the American public has been blocked, and that is the question of whether we are going to modernize air service in this country; whether we are going to truly have a passenger's bill of rights; whether we are going to update a system that is clearly overloaded, clearly in crisis. We have been trying all week to bring to the floor critical changes to upgrade the American airline system, and once again these efforts have been blocked and blocked and blocked. We have a whole range of needs in this country that are urgent for the safety of those of us who are flying with our families and are counting on the fact that everything that is being done to make sure that system is the best in the country and it is safe.

We see that families are struggling with gas prices. We see in my home State again 10,000 people a month losing unemployment insurance who are trying to figure out how to make ends meet while we see blocking after blocking, filibuster after filibuster, here in the Senate stopping us from moving forward on important legislation.

I urge my colleagues to listen to the folks at home and what they are going through, and to join us to extend unemployment insurance, to address what are outrageous gas prices, and also make sure we are being serious and responsible about important issues such as airline safety.

I yield the floor.

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