Jim McGovern

Mr. McGOVERN

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, let me just remind my colleagues that Republican President George Bush extended unemployment benefits on a number of occasions, never paid for it; and I don't recall my friends on the other side of the aisle raising a big to-do over that. But the bottom line is to simply say that, well, we have extended it multiple times, so tough luck to these people who are still struggling in this difficult economy is unacceptable. How can we do that? We are here to represent these people and to make sure that they have enough to get through these difficult times until the economy gets better so they can get a job. This should not be controversial. This shouldn't be a big deal. I am stunned that extending unemployment insurance to the unemployed in this country is a controversial issue. Only in this Republican-led House of Representatives are our priorities all messed up. Nobody talks about pay-fors for tax cuts for Donald Trump or subsidies to Big Oil or any special deals for corporate donors to the Republican National Committee. No one says a word about that. But when it comes to extending benefits to unemployed Americans, we are going to find pay- fors. Well, do you know what? Let's take the initiative in this House to figure out how to get this thing done rather than leave town tomorrow and we don't come back for a week and a half and just leave these people hanging. With that, Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield to our distinguished minority whip, Mr. Hoyer, for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Oklahoma's comments, and I appreciate his expressing the frustration of the minority in the Senate not being able to express themselves, to be heard. I feel that same frustration here because we now have just completed a year in which I think that there have been more closed rules than any other time in history. So I think we all on the minority side here understand what it feels like to be shut out. At this point, I would like to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Roybal-Allard).

Mr. McGOVERN. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, before I yield to the next speaker on our side, I think it is important to point out that, yeah, the Democrats do control the majority in the Senate, but a majority of Republicans right now are filibustering consideration of extending unemployment insurance, led by Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader. Maybe rather than waiting for them we can show some leadership here and demonstrate to these millions of Americans who have fallen on tough times that somebody cares; that we are not just going to let them just dangle and be without any kind of compensation during these difficult times; that we are going to step up to the plate and let them know that we understand that the economy is still going through hard times and that there is a need to extend this benefit. I don't know how we can just turn our backs on these people who are struggling. I mean, our job here is to help people, not to ignore their problems, not to turn a cold shoulder when they fall on difficult times. We all know we are emerging from one of the worst economic crises in our lifetime. These aren't normal times. So we ought to be there to provide some help. Let us show them a little compassion. I don't think that that is unreasonable. I don't care what your ideology is. We ought to not turn our backs on those who are unemployed in this country. With that, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nevada, (Mr. Horsford).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, let me just say to my colleague from Oklahoma, we are not asking to amend this bill. We are asking for the right to be able to bring up a bill that would extend unemployment insurance. Let's be clear so everybody understands this. The majority, if they agreed, could allow us to bring this up at any time. We could have this debate right after we pass the omnibus. So there is absolutely no reason at all that we shouldn't have the right to be able to debate the issue of extending unemployment insurance to millions of our fellow citizens who are looking to us for help. It is very challenging during these economically difficult times to be able to find employment, and we have many of our citizens who have tried but have been unsuccessful in finding employment. They ought to be able to support their families through this difficult time. All we are asking for is the right to be able to bring this up and vote on it. We are not talking about delaying passing the omnibus bill. We are talking about unemployment insurance. We are talking about doing our job and not skipping town and going home for a week while people who are unemployed and have lost their benefits have nothing. With that, Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney), whose legislation we could bring up, if we were to defeat the previous question, to extend unemployment insurance for the millions of Americans that have been impacted.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request, I yield to my colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney).

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlelady from New York (Mrs. Maloney) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Frankel) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), the ranking member on the Committee on Ways and Means. (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus) for a unanimous consent request.

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) for a unanimous consent request.