Congresswoman Titus of Nevada’s First District today spoke on the House floor in defense of the nearly 40,000 unemployed Nevadans at risk of losing their unemployment benefits at the end of the year. Below are her remarks: 

“I rise today on behalf of the nearly 40,000 unemployed Nevadans at risk of losing their unemployment benefits if Congress fails to act before the end of the year. 

“While our economy has slowly begun to recover from the recession and housing crisis, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs today than when the recession started six years ago. 

“Nearly 4 million jobless Americans have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks. While a newly unemployed worker has a 20 to 30 percent chance of being hired, a long-term unemployed worker has only a 1 in 10 chance of finding a new job in any given month. 

“Cutting off a critical lifeline to those already struggling to make ends meet would be irresponsible and reckless, causing significant damage to our economic growth and costing our economy nearly 310,000 jobs, including 3,000 in Nevada. 

“I’m proud to cosponsor the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act that would extend this vital program and related provisions for another year.

“Before Congress pats itself on the back about a budget deal, let’s think of families truly in need during these holidays and beyond.”