And she wrote to me and said, ive wanted nothing more than to find a new fulltime job and i dedicated every day to that mission. Im asking you to advocate for me and the millions like me who need our extended Unemployment Benefits to make ends meet. I just want everybody to understand, this is not an abstraction, shes are not statistics. These are your neighbors, friends, family members. It could at some point be any of us. Thats why we set up a system of Unemployment Insurance. The notion was everybody is making a contribution because you dont know when the Business Cycle or an economic crisis might make any of us vulnerable. And this insurance helps keep food on the table while dad is sending out resumes. It helps mom pay the rent while shes learning new skills to earn that new job. That provides that extra set of security so that losing your job doesnt mean you have to lose your house. Where everybody you worked so hard to build for years. We make this promise to our fellow americans who are working hard to get back on their feet because when times get tough, we are not a people who say youre on your own. We are people who believe that we are all in it together. We know there but the grace of god go i. [applause] so thats the values case for this. Thats the moral case for this. But, theres an economic case for it as well. Independent economists have shown extending emergency Unemployment Insurance actually helps the economy. Actually creates new jobs. When folks like katherine have a little more to spend, to your honor turn to turn up the heat in her house or buy a few extra groceries, that means more spending at businesses in their local community, which in turn may inspire that business to hire one more person. Maybe kathy. Thats why in the past both parties have repeatedly put partisanship and ideology aside to offer some security for job seekers with no strings attached. Its been nothing regardless whether democrats or republicans were in the white house. Its been done regardless of whether democrats or republicans controlled congress. And by the way, its done its been done multiple times when the Unemployment Rate was significantly lower than it is today. Whats important to keep in mind also is that the recovery in a big country like the United States is going to be somewhat uneven. So there are some states that have a 2. 5 Unemployment Rate, and there are someplaces that ay still have a 7, 8, 9 Unemployment Rate. People living in those respective states may be working equally hard to find a job, but its going to be harder in someplaces than others. Now, two weeks ago Congress Went home for the holidays and let this lifeline expire for 1. 3 million americans. If this doesnt get fixed it will hurt about 14 million americans over the course of this year. Five million workers, along with nine million of their family members, their spouses, their kids. Now, i have heard the argument that says extending Unemployment Insurance will somehow hurt the unemployed because it zaps their motivation to get a new job. I really want to i want to go t this for a second. [applause] that really sells the American People short. I mean a lot meet a lot of people as president of the United States and as candidate for president of the United States and as a u. S. Senator and state senator. I meet a lot of people. And i cant name a time or met an american who would rather have an unemployment check than the pride of having a job. [applause] the longterm unemployed are not lazy. They are not lacking in motivation. They are coping with the aftermath of the worst economic crisis in generations. In some cases they may have a skills mismatch. They may have been doing a certain job for 20 years, suddenly they lose that job, they may be an older worker, may have to get retrained. Its hard. Sometimes employers will discriminate if you have been out of work for a while. They decide, well, we are not sure we want to hire you. We would rather hire somebody ho is still working right now. Its hard out there. There are a lot of friends, a lot of our neighbors who have lost their jobs and they are working their tails off every single day trage too find trying to find a new job. As the job market keeps getting better, more and more of these folks will find work. But in the meantime, the insurance keeps them from falling off a cliff. It makes sure they can pay their car note to go to that interview. It makes sure they can pay their cell phone bills so that if somebody calls back for an interview they can answer it. And katherine explained this. Katherine in the letter she wrote to me said, that the folks real really think that cutting this benefit will make someone hire me . Thats not how employers are thinking. So letting Unemployment Insurance expire for millions of americans is wrong. Congress should make things right. Im very appreciative they are on their way to doing just that thanks to the bipartisan work of two senators. A democrat from rhode island, senator reid, and conservative republican from nevada, senator heller. Despite their political differences they worked together on a plan fix. Unemployment insurance for at least three months temporarily while we figure out a longer term solution. This morning a bipartisan majority of senators agreed to allow this commonsense provision to at least move forward in the process. The senates a complicated place so just because they agreed on this vote, all they have agreed to so far is we are going to be able to have a vote on it. They havent actually passed it. So weve got to get this across the finish line without obstruction or delay, and we need the house of representatives to be able to vote for it as well. [applause] hats the bottom line. Voting for Unemployment Insurance helps people and creates jobs. And voting against it does not. Congress should pass this bipartisan plan right away and i will sign it right away. And more than one million americans throughout the country will feel a little hope right away. And hope is contagious. [applause] when katherine has a bit more confidence about her situation, when she finds a job, shes going to be able to help somebody down the line, maybe ho is also down on their luck. When Congress Passes a bipartisan effort starting here, right at the beginning of the new year, who knows, we might actually get some things done this year. After all the hard work and sacrifice of the past five years to recover and rebuild from the crisis, i think the American People are really looking forward to 2014 as just a little bit of stability. Lets just do the commonsense. Ing, lets do whats right we are going to have to see action on the part of congress. And ill be willing to work with them every step of the way. Action to help our businesses create more of the good jobs that a growing middle class requires. Action to restore economic stability, action to open more doors of opportunity for everybody who is willing to work hard and walkthrough those doors. Walk through those doors. When i was listening to katherine i was just so struck and r strength and dignity i think people when they bump into some tough times like katherine, they are not looking for pity, they just want a shot. And they just want to feel as if [applause] they just want to feel as if, you know what, as a part of this contry, as a part of their communities country, as a part of their communities, when misfortune shows, all the things that they have done in the past, all the hard work they have done raising children and paying taxes and working hard, that counts for something. That folks arent suddenly just going to dismiss their concerns, but they are going to rally behind them. Thats not too much to ask. Thats who we are as americans. Thats what built this country. [applause] thats what i want the most. Thank you very much, everybody. Lets get to work. Lets get this done. I appreciate it. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National able satellite corp. 2014] president obama at the white house commenting on the senates vote agreeing to move forward with legislation extending Unemployment Insurance benefits by three months. A final vote on that possible later this week. Here on cspan we want to hear what you think on uninsurance benefits. For democrats thats 2025853885. Republicans, 2025853886. And independents enothers, 2025853887. We will also read some faithbased comments, faithbased facebook. Com cspan. Igh in on twitter, cspanchat. Russell berman is covering the debate in the senate for the hill. Politics first. How did the senate manage to get the 60 votes needed to move forward with the bill . This is a little bit of a surprise. The democrats coming into this vote were worried they would be a vote or two short of the 60vote threshold, ultimately six republicans, including senator rob portman of ohio, senator Susan Collins of maine, and four others did vote along with all the democrats who are voting to advance this. It still has a long way to go. At least two more, probably senate votes. Some of the republicans who voted for this procedural vote say that they would need offsetting spending cuts to pay for the extension, which costs up to three months about 6 o billion before they would vote assage or final cloture would require 60 votes as well. In terms of this bipartisan bill, the president called this a bipartisan bill, pointing out dean hellers support of it, where will his allegiances fall when the vote comes later this week likely . Where will the president s . Where will senator hellers allegiances fall . Hes in support. This bill as of right now is unpaid for. So he was the first republican to get onboard with senator jack reed of rhode island on a threemonth extension. The Unemployment Rate in nevada is still very high. And thats probably one reason for his support for this. But its likely going to to get through both the senate and the house, Speaker Boehner has already said that it needs to be paid for. Right now over the next few days they are probably going to be entering into negotiations over what kind of cuts to make elsewhere that would pay for this bill and potentially the democrats want to extend it for a full year, this threemonth extension was meant to buy time for a longer solution that might include some reforms to the program. So well see if it stays in that threemonth window or if they try to broaden it out to a oneyear extension. Is it possible this bill could be attached to something bigger, an omnibus spending bill, the farm bill . Its possible. In the past Unemployment Insurance extensions have been attached to other bills. We are working to finish up, as you mentioned, the farm bill, and theres been some talk on the democratic side of the aisle, at least in the house, of using the savings from the farm bill, with cuts to food stamp and farm subsidies, to pay for the Unemployment Benefits, because that money watches up pretty well. 25 billion to spend emergency Unemployment Insurance for the full year. So that is a possibility. Its also the other bill that you mentioned that is definitely a vehicle that is going to move forward, probably in the next few weeks, is that omnibus spending bill. It could be attached to one or the other. If its attached to the farm bill it would likely sort of be combined and some of the money from the farm bill would be used for it. Lastly in the article you write for thehill. Com. The democrats hoping to change the conversation in 2014 away from discussion on the Health Care Reform law. How, in addition to this bill, might they try to do that . They are going to focus on the topic of the moment, which is income and equality. The president of course has been talking about this in various forms since his reelection. Even before then. Its gotten a lot of attention the mayor ction of of new york sitty. Other liberal democrats have been focusing on this. So the push to extend Unemployment Insurance and also to raise the minimum wage is all part of that. You can expect to see the president and Congressional Democrats talking as he has in the state of the Union Address later this month about other issues. Most notably a push to increase the minimum wage, which is really an uphill battle with republicans controlling the house. Republicans have long been opposed, most anyway, to raising the minimum wage. Saying it would hurt job creation, especially among Small Businesses. Its going to be a tough battle for democrats. And now we are into the election year, everything has political and electoral connotation. Thats how its going to be framed. Read more of Russell Bermans reporting at thehill. Com and on twitter. Thanks for the update. Get to your comments and your calls. Chris is in spruce pine, alabama, who is on our democrats line. What do you think about the Senate Moving Forward on these Unemployment Insurance benefits . I think its a great consideration. Its one of the undirnl one of the ununemployed in alabama. When i heard the benefits would be cut again, im 61 years old. The job market here in for instance pine, alabama, is absolutely i mean in alabama altogether, and northwest alabama, and Nuclear Weapons my small town within even a 20, 25 mile radius there are no jobs in my field. But my unemployment was not actually due to the job market, im not going to say it actually was not, i was in the job for 13 years at a Health Care Facility. That Health Care Facility went bankrupt. So that is the very reason im unemployed. But at my age there are very few, very few jobs in my area that absolutely im qualified for. Im one of the unemployed. So this is an immediate, immediate thank you, jesus. Thank you, god, that my husband has a good job at this time. But at our age and economy, it is crucial, crucial for our government to come forward with this immediately. Dont wait, im sorry it happened during the holidays, do not wait on this vote. This is crucial. Chris from alabama. Comments on facebook, facebook. Com cspan. One from patreesha, lets see if the donothing else can stop blaming poor and hurting and do something for the American People. Crystal says, it better not get extended again. These people need to get out and start looking for jobs. Bill says i think funding Unemployment Benefits should come out of the congressmens paychecks. Craig is a republican. Hes in holiday, florida. What do you think . Caller same thing happened to me. My job was outsourced to the philippines in 2011. Host what kind of job . Caller i worked for a telecommunications company. The government is required to pay off some of my college reeducation. I have been going to college for three semesters now. Now because of the shut off, i have one class to graduate i cant graduate from college now. The governments been paying my tuition. Big waste of time for me. I believe they should extend it. Host next up, the independent line. Mark. Hello. Caller how you doing, good morning. Host doing fine, thank you. Caller i only have two concerns. I believe these people need their benefits extended. But i also believe that when the democrats say that we want to pass with no strings attached, thats a warning. I think theres enough waste in the federal government where they can offset the cost of the extension. Cut ust like to see them the host a number, on the republican side, have been calling for what they have termed payfor. Heres a tweet from anna on twitter, cspanchat. G. O. P. Wants pay fors. Generate some revenue. Extend Unemployment Insurance now. Quit calling americans lazy. Senator boxer was an economics major, she Still Believes giving unemployment checks boost the economy. Host that vote today just to move forward with the legislation not final passage. That is expected sometime later this week. Democrats line, tom in connecticut. Hi. Caller good afternoon. I hope they extend it and make it long term. Im a construction worker. Im 61 years old. I only worked four months last year. I cant see why we we could spend more money on infrastructure in this country, and im sick and tired of voting schools, roads, and sewer systems in afghanistan and iraq. Put a freeze on foreign aid for one year. Take that money and put it to work for the American People in this country. Give us we want to work. Theres so many people that want to work in this country, but the jobs are not there. So hell put construction people to work. Hell generate so many hundreds of thousands of jobs. I wish the people would understand and get that through their head. I want to work. Host how long have you been out of work . Caller three months now. Host what did do you before then . Caller heavy equipment operator. I have been working for 40 years in the equipment trade. Host in terms of the economy there in connecticut, whats it like . Caller theres work, but not that much work in construction. We need more infrastructure. Highway funding. Put money in the highway funding, get the work out there, and get the construction season started when it starts in the spring. Put people to work. Thats what i want to see happen. Host tennessee. Dina, tennessee. Larry. Caller yeah. The guy just before me here, he pretty much said exactly what hi on my mind. What i had on my mind. Im in my mid 60s and been out of work seven months, and this benefit program has helped me along really w