Congresswoman velazquez, johnson, and mr. Hoyer. Morning, everyone. Here participating in congressional hearings, and this is the toughest one. Lady. M a tough i wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone of you for your grace and your dignity. Pray pe father, i that those americans that have been ignored by the other side that are paying close attention to what is happening here in lisa, i would like to ask you a question. The last seven months have clearly been very tough on you. But you persevered and now you are on a brighter path. Todaywould you have been unemployment for compensation emergency benefits . Had the extrat unless you have experienced how the job market is today and the incredible you mayesearch spend three hours preparing for an interview. You have no idea what it is like to go through the world of the internet job boards. Would i was facing a of taking actually, i enrolled. I have a bachelors degree and i had enrolled in my local Community College with all the Young Millennials to go back to school to get an associates degree, to go to night school and work during the day on a minimum wage job or a little bit more. And then my plan was to have to and havemy retirement 30 of that tax, and then taxed again. And just pray that my tenacity would get me there. ,he a and the anxiety level i cannot even explain to you the insomnia, the tears, the mood swings, the ups, the downs. It ranks with me as one of the five most tragic things to have ever happened in my life. Does to you emotionally and psychologically, you feel like Hester Prynne with you areer a when jobless for very long. You soon become a member of the lost world. People look at you when you do not have a job yet like there is something wrong with you. That is where i have been. Thank you. [indiscernible] you, madam chair. I have no questions, but i would like to let you all know that it is for a timeframe about three months i was unemployed. This was back many years ago. School it was summer break. I mean, im used to working. But i could not find a job that summer. The whole summer. Im sure that your feelings about being unemployed and searching for work and being unable to find anything, you know, the effect that has on you very youjust would not know it unless you went through it, and i think that is the problem with a lot of our colleagues here in congress. Many were born with a silver spoon. Theyve never had to in counter times when it is hard to make ends meet. Encounternter times when it is hard to make ends meet. We will do anything everything with the caucus leadership to remedy the situation for you. And last, but not least, our dear pope has brought it on home. At such a wonderful time of the sharing. We are we are thankful for all that we have been given, and we are trying to give back and share a little bit of the good tidings with our neighbors and friends. That is the spirit that we should have. I just want to applaud the pope for taking that direction. Thank you all for being brave enough to come here today. Thank you. Congressman. Thank you all. I represent the puerto rican congress. Ritter we go, by the way, is an american territory. , by the way, is an american territory. Its Unemployment Rate is 17 . It is the highest, pretty much, in america. , 80,200ame time american citizens there will continue not getting Unemployment Benefits if this program is not extended. And your accounts have moved me quite a bit. I know anybody with any kind of sensitivity would be moved by your accounts. Im sure that most, if not all of those 80,000 constituents that i represent would have similar accounts. Dress my question to father snyder. Colleagues of ours here in congress believe that government has no responsibility, the federal government has no responsibility. Poverty, hunger, homelessness, and unemployment in america. They believe that charities should take care of it all. What is your response . I think charity has a role to play, without a doubt. The charity cannot do it alone. Thisosition has been in country that Charity Partners with the government and we Work Together. Because we both have that as a common goal. It is for the common good, especially the most vulnerable. As far as saying the government has no role, im not sure what that faith tradition might be, who areink those of us thestian, jewish, and even muslim tradition, theres is that clear response ability to your neighbor come a especially your neighbor in need. Neighbor, especially your neighbor in need. I would ask them to go back and look at their roots, because the very things we are talking about today, they will hear an answer. We will hear from congressman congresswoman joyce beatty from ohio. Then the congressman from nevada and then california. Thank you. Let me join my colleagues in thanking you for humming in and giving coming in and your testimony. Let me say, it is courageous to me. This is very difficult as i sit here and i think of how you represent the many faiths in my district, of people who are writing me and calling me with very similar stories. Becausey, we are here we are concerned. We are your advocates. Toed to be able to see personally say that. He said, your story, like the others, is very compelling. Lisa, your story like the others, is very compelling. And you mentioned ohio. I am in the heart of ohio. Upwill be brief in a follow to my colleagues question, but not as it relates to the church or the faithbased. Myoften, many people in district will say, go to the church and they will take care of it. And that doesnt happen. And you need alone in my district, the churches cannot sustain you in a home or sustain you with medical or groceries. If there was one thing you could what us i am a so person and a resolver. We have heard you. What is the one extra thing you would like me to do, whether in , oristrict or legislatively here in my committee . What is the one thing . For me, and i have been asking myself what congress is doing it how they are for me as an individual and as a community. I know you are not my representative. That you do represent me in other ways. You do represent me in other ways. I think it is to find a way to resolve these issues that are facing our nation. Help the people that are under. Ing that are under your we do. My husband and i were talking about that if we just did the lease amount for the American People as a nation of all that , that is ones far of the reasons why i rarely listen to the news anymore. It is depressing. There is just no talking. Even i have to talk with my family or my friends to negotiate, and with my husband to negotiate issues and negotiate what we are going to pay or what we are going to eat all stop to eat. Sometimes we make concessions. Sometimes one makes a confession, sometimes the other, but usually we both make a oncession as to what we are going to do. And i dont understand why congress cannot. We are all here because we are responsible to our nation. , what can iyself contribute back to my community as a scam recessional . What can a stem professional . As a gardener, what can i do . Whatdaughter of a veteran, can i do for the veterans and our community . And soon i may be homeless. Every time i see a homeless person, im giving them what little change i have in my purse , my hand, or my pocket. Im starting to make an effort to keep coins in my pocket so i can give something to someone. Because whatever we can give to the least of us we do for ourselves. And i dont know if that is really what youre asking. [inaudible] thank you. If somehow this congress and future congresspersons can come together and work for us as people, as a nation. Enqueue. Thank you. You for holding this very important hearing. This is the reason i came to congress, to hear and listen and to represent constituents and people in america like you, who expect this congress to address the important issues of our time. Nothing can be more important than employment and job creation and growing our economy. You have put a perspective that i have been waiting to hear now 11 months as a new member you provided me with hope that i came to congress to do the right thing. I am from nevada. My state has the highest unemployment in the country at 9. 3 . And with the state with fewer than 3 million people, we have who will00 individuals lose their emergency Unemployment Benefits on december 28. Unless we do something about that. If the Republican Leadership continues to sit idly by, then by next june, that number will double to 40,000. It is real. I want to thank each of you, because as my colleagues have said already, we are listening and we hear you and we know that you represent so many other people. To the other witnesses, thank you. , i want to ask you a specific question, because one sector that has been hardest hit in my state is the construction sector. And i have workers and unions, trades thatd other have been unemployed for more than a year. And there really are no jobs in that sector coming back anytime soon in my community because of sustained recession. The Construction Industry was our number two sector behind gaming. It has been hardest hit. It is good to hear a union perspective. I want to ask you as a building thees worker, what about quality of the job youre looking for . You come from a sector with livable wages, good benefits, pension, apprenticeship to come back and retrain. You if the job that they are trying to put you in doesnt really provide sustainable wages for you and your family . As you sit out of work, you start questioning your ability to do a job. Drops worht drops and your selfconfidence drops and it takes quite a bit to get it back up. Its hard to be unemployed. As a craftsman. I build. I enjoy building. I like to look back on what i built, and i did that. That is my pride. When i dont have a job, you feel worthless. It is a feeling i dont like. Been in the trade 43 years. I have worked everything from mills, carsteel plants and ive always done it according to my pride and thats what i try to give. Unemployment is unfulfilling. It doesnt make you feel good. ,t is hard to do Something Else not after all of these years and the continuous training that we go under. A beautiful answer, stan. I join my colleagues in thanking you for being here. And for being so honest with us. I just wish my colleagues from the other side were sitting here listening to you. They are not. One of the areas that covers im sure all of you understand this is something you are not getting, assistance dealing with the pressures in the feeling with worthlessness and despair, and the questioning of your abilities to get back into the job market. At some point, we are all missing the ability to help you sustain a mental attitude to be in achieving reemployment. That is an area where i get excited. On it int focusing congress either. It is the ability to be able to understand the position it places you in as an additional in extending the Unemployment Benefits. It is something that just affects the family. Now we have another home in the market that might or might not move and now we have added to the recession. We haveunderstand that to be able to help you to be able to sustain yourself mentally and move forward. You are worth it. And hopedone your work to create this economy in the red states and we owe it to you. The other area is the unemployed vets. A lot of them are coming home to nothing. ,he suicide rate is 22 a day which is unacceptable for our veterans. There are many things we need to work on. The problem has been the budget is not big enough. The economy is not growing fast enough. Why are we not focused on bringing the jobs back here to the u. S. . Why are we not looking at being able to hold employers accountable . They are making money. I can start off with a few of them i can think of offhand. You need to be a way or and you need to be able to tell other people to be aware of how this works in congress. Because if you dont support and we are trying to do bring Companies Back here to do the job creation and take care of you when you need it to be able to help you get back on your feet, then we are not doing your job. Because we do not have the power to do it as it stands now. Any comments . Thing. St want to say one what i was feeling on monday morning was pure, unadulterated fear. I gave my Christmas Tree to a friend. I wasnt going to put it up. No christmas. I had no idea what i was facing. And your emotions go up and down, up and down. You go on a face to face interview and you think it went great, and because the competition in our area is very high because of unemployment what i want you to understand is , get rid of that wrong impression that people who are on long term unemployment are , singing a song, and they are all laying in front of the tv watching Jerry Springer and eating junk food. That is not what we are doing. We are out there every day. You have to step aside from it every now and then because youre going to drive yourself insane. But we are out there pounding it hard. The majority of americans want to work. We are not the exception. We are the rule. We want to work. Understand that. We get it. The problem is, the colleagues on the other side dont get it, because many of them have never been unemployed. And california has the highest well, we are over 35 million now. And are affected unemployed will be close to one million in california if we do not extend this. It is critical for all of us. And we all support what you well, what you have told us we need to do, we all support that. Are very right about the people who do not want to work. Those make it hard for the rest. But we are not going after those that are fraudulently accessing the fund. And that is something that we also need to look at, how to go in and get able off their duffs and not create a dynasty of people that are on unemployment for ever, or social services. God bless you, all of you, and good luck in your future. Thank you. Thank you. I would like to ask for questions from just one point. You should know that the work the loss center is doing and i want to single out chris owens theyre working to end the discrimination against those who have been unemployed for a long time. You do not have to end add insult to injury for people. With that, i would like to recognize congresswoman moore, congresswoman spear, and congresswoman mulroney. And were going to add in congressman kildee. We do not know when votes are coming up. We have to move fast. Thank you. Christine, i know that lisa, vera, and stan are frightened, find their testimonies very, very frightening, and intimidating for the whole country. These people are master electricians, microbiologist, bachelors degree with a lot of executive experience, and they are unemployed for a long time. What about those people who do not have their skill set . I missed so much of their testimony. I was perus thing through their testimony just to try to get my arms around the extent to which they have been offered parttime work. They say they have been looking for anything. The extent to which they have been willing to accept jobs for half as much. All of this in our Video Library later. We are taking live to the white house next. President obama on the death of former South African residents Nelson Mandela. Nelson mandela closed a statement from the dock saying, i have fought against white domination and i have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal i hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which i am prepared to die. Nelson mandela lived for that ideal and he made it real. He achieved more than could be expected of any man. And today, he has gone home. We have lost one of the most influential, courageous, and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth. E no longer belongs to us he belongs to the ages. Dignity andfierce unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom of others, he transformed south africa and moved all of us. His journey from imprisonment to a president embodied the promise that human beings and countries can change for the better. His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all of humanity should aspire to , whether in their own nations or their own personal lives. And the fact that he did it all with grace and with humor and the ability to acknowledge his own imperfections only makes the man that much more remarkable. As he once said, im not a saint , unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying. I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela. Action,First Political the first thing i ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics was a protest against apartheid. I would study his words and his writings. The day he was released from me a sense ofe what human beings can do when they are guided by their hopes and not by their fears. And like so many around the globe, i cannot imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set. And so long as i live, i will do what i can to learn from him. Two michelle to his family, michelle and i extend our deepest sympathy and gratitude. His life meant long days away from those who loved him most. And i only hope the time spent with him these last few weeks brought peace and comfort to his family. To the people of south africa, we draw strength from the example of renewal and reconciliation and resilience that you made real. A free south africa at peace with itself. That sets an example to the world. That is his legacy for the nation he loved. We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. Cant falls to us as best we to forward the example he set, to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love, to never discount the difference that one person can make, to strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice. For now, lets pause and give thanks for the fact that nelson , the man who took history in his hands and thence the arc of the moral universe towards justice. May god bless his memory and keep him at peace. President obama saying i am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from the life of Nelson Mandela. Nelson mandela died today in south africa at 95. He spent 2