Pelosi Statement on Senate Vote to Consider UI Extension

Contact: Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

San Francisco – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after the Senate moved forward with consideration of a bipartisan extension of emergency unemployment insurance. The vote was 60-37:

"Today, the Senate took an important step toward restoring security for the 1.3 million Americans who were cut off from emergency unemployment insurance right in the middle of the holidays.

"Millions of Americans across the country need unemployment insurance to support their families while they look for a job. These are men and women – our neighbors, friends, and family – who worked hard, played by the rules, and lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Every week without an extension of unemployment, nearly 72,000 more Americans and their families will be cut off from this critical lifeline.

"House Republicans must end their shortsighted and immoral insistence on leaving these Americans out in the cold. Failure to extend unemployment insurance will cost the economy 240,000 jobs over the next year, slowing our recovery and making it even harder for unemployed Americans to find work. It is time for House to act."

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