Weekly Address
The White House
January 4, 2014
Hi, everybody, and Happy New Year.
This is a time when we look ahead to all the possibilities
and opportunities of the year to come – when we resolve to better
ourselves, and to better our relationships with one another. And today,
I want to talk about one place that Washington should start – a place
where we can make a real and powerful difference in the lives of many of
our fellow Americans right now.
Just a few days after Christmas, more than one million of
our fellow Americans lost a vital economic lifeline – the temporary
insurance that helps folks make ends meet while they look for a job.
Republicans in Congress went home for the holidays and let that lifeline
expire. And for many of their constituents who are unemployed through
no fault of their own, that decision will leave them with no income at
all.
We make this promise to one another because it makes a
difference to a mother who needs help feeding her kids while she’s
looking for work; to a father who needs help paying the rent while
learning the skills to get a new and better job. And denying families
that security is just plain cruel. We’re a better country than that.
We don’t abandon our fellow Americans when times get tough – we keep the
faith with them until they start that new job.
What’s more, it actually slows down the economy for all of
us. If folks can’t pay their bills or buy the basics, like food and
clothes, local businesses take a hit and hire fewer workers. That’s why
the independent Congressional Budget Office says that unless Congress
restores this insurance, we’ll feel a drag on our economic growth this
year. And after our businesses created more than two million new jobs
last year, that’s a self-inflicted wound we don’t need.
So when Congress comes back to work this week, their first
order of business should be making this right. Right now, a bipartisan
group in Congress is working on a three-month extension of unemployment
insurance – and if they pass it, I will sign it. For decades,
Republicans and Democrats put partisanship and ideology aside to offer
some security for job-seekers, even when the unemployment rate was lower
than it is today. Instead of punishing families who can least afford
it, Republicans should make it their New Year’s resolution to do the
right thing, and restore this vital economic security for their
constituents right now.
After all, our focus as a country this year shouldn’t be
shrinking our economy, but growing it; not narrowing opportunity, but
expanding it; not fewer jobs, but doing everything we can to help our
businesses create more of the good jobs that a growing middle class
requires.
That’s my New Year’s resolution – to do everything I can,
every single day, to help make 2014 a year in which more of our citizens
can earn their own piece of the American Dream.
After five years of working and sacrificing to recover and
rebuild from crisis, we have it within our power, right now, to move
this country forward. It’s entirely up to us. And I’m optimistic for
the year that lies ahead.
Thank you, and have a great weekend.
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