Congressman Sander Levin

(Washington D.C.)- This bill combines equity and growth. Equity for the unemployed, people who are looking for work. The estimate is that 1.3 million will exhaust their benefits by the end of the year. This is a response. There are six people looking for every job. The Michigan Unemployment Office has been swamped with phone calls. Today, one of the staff there told my office: These are the unemployed. They call asking, When is Congress going to pass this extension? What are they waiting for? Don't they understand we are desperate? 
  
As to growth, there are two provisions here. I am surprised that the previous speaker says nothing is being done to create jobs when we have two provisions here that are aimed to do that. The homeowners' tax credit is extended and is also expanded, and the net operating loss provision is inserted here to create jobs. This is a bill that combines equity and, hopefully--and I think it will--create jobs. 

So let's vote for it without equivocation and, if I might say, without debating other issues like health care. We'll debate those tomorrow and Saturday. 

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