How long do we have to wait for S.2544???????????????

Quit kissing up to the Republicans! John won't be the next President! He is a very good man but WE THE PEOPLE WILL NOT ALLOW 3rd TERM FOR John Bush!
IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH! A TRAITOR! A LIAR! A THEIF! PUT HIM IN THE STREET! EVERYONE SPEAK OUT! DON'T JUST WAIT FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN. GET UP AND MAKE IT HAPPEN!

These are the comments of Ted Kennedy who introduced EMERGENCY bill 2544 which was cosponsored by Joe Liebermann.
NOTHING has been done on it since JANUARY!!!!! ??????

Sen. Edward Kennedy [D-MA]: [Introducing S. 2544] Mr. President, it is clear that our economy is going from bad to worse. Every day the headlines bring more bad news. Fuel prices are going through the roof. Millions of families are at risk of losing their homes. Bankruptcies have risen by 40 percent in the last year alone.

Most alarming, we are seeing a drastic rise in the number of Americans out of work. In December, half a million more Americans were unemployed than the month before. Today nearly 8 million Americans are looking for a job and can't find one. The national unemployment rate has shot up to 5 percent--the biggest increase since the last recession. Experts say this number will rise well above 6 percent in 2009. Vulnerable parts of our population have been hit even harder--last month, 9 percent of African-American workers were unemployed, up sharply from 8.4 percent in November. Latino workers now have an unemployment rate of 6 percent.

What's more, we are seeing a large number of out-of-work Americans who still can't find a new job months later. Nearly one out of five Americans who is looking for work has been out of a job for over 6 months--compared with roughly one out of ten in 2001, before the last recession. With only 4 million job openings and nearly 8 million unemployed Americans, there are two workers for every job. As unemployment rises, there will be even more workers competing for each job. As highlighted in yesterday's front-page article in the Washington Post, this problem is affecting workers across our economy--even those with college educations and years of experience can't find work.

These aren't just statistics. These numbers are coworkers, our relatives, our neighbors. For each and every one of those families, a pink slip can spell economic disaster.

Losing a job isn't just losing a paycheck--it can mean losing the results of years of hard work and sacrifice.

For too many families, losing a job means losing health insurance. Without insurance, an unexpected hospital stay--from a broken leg or a cancer diagnosis--means certain financial disaster. Mr. President, 77 percent of middle class Americans do not have enough assets to pay essential expenses for 3 months. Without a paycheck, the rising price of daily necessities--housing, gasoline, and even groceries--becomes impossible to afford.

Our unemployment insurance program is intended to help workers weather a job loss. Workers pay into the program throughout their careers. If they lose their jobs, they can collect a benefit while they look for work. The amounts are modest--typically less than half of a worker's regular wages--but they help families to pay their rent, keep the house warm, and put food on the table.

In good economic times, such benefits are enough to tide workers and their families over for the few weeks it takes to find a job. But these are not good times. It is taking longer and longer for unemployed Americans to find new work. Over 1.3 million Americans have been looking for a job for 6 months or more. As a result, an increasing number of workers have not found a new job by the time their unemployment benefits run out. Over the past year, over 2.6 million Americans--or 35 percent of all unemployed workers--have exhausted their unemployment benefits. Unless we respond soon, these and other families will be left in the cold.

So we must act, and we must act now, to help these workers before financial disaster strikes. That is why I am introducing legislation today to give workers the help they need and have earned. The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act will ensure that Americans who keep looking for work but can't find a job after 6 months will be eligible for up to 20 weeks of additional benefits. In very high-unemployment States, workers could also receive up to 13 more weeks of benefits. Because out-of-work families are facing skyrocketing costs of gas, home heating, food, and housing, long-term unemployed workers will temporarily receive $50 extra each week to help pay their bills.

Providing this extension is a matter of fairness. We owe it to all workers who have lost their jobs in this struggling economy to provide help while they look for new jobs. Out-of-work Americans have worked hard all their lives. They have paid into the unemployment insurance system with the promise they would receive its protection when our economy is in crisis. Part of the American Dream is the opportunity to work hard, provide for your family, put your children through school, and save for retirement. When the economy isn't working the way it should and the jobs simply aren't there, we must stick together. We must take care of those who can't find a job.

But there's another major reason to act. Economists agree that extending unemployment benefits is a powerful, cost-effective way to deliver a boost to the economy. The extension of benefits puts money into the hands of those who need assistance the most and are most likely to spend it immediately on basic essentials. This means money is flowing immediately to local businesses, which will in turn provide a further economic boost.

Indeed, according to a report by Mark Zandi of Moody's, each dollar invested in benefits to out-of-work Americans leads to a $1.73 increase in growth--the most of any measure tested. That compares with only pennies on the dollar for cuts in income tax rates or cuts in taxes on investments.

The Congressional Budget Office agrees. Its report last week on short-term economic stimulus found that extending unemployment benefits is among the most cost-effective, potent, temporary steps that Congress can take to jump-start our economy.

This is a tried and true approach to helping working families in economic downturns. In each recession since the late 1950s, Congress has extended unemployment benefits to those who have exhausted their benefits and can't find work. It has often done so by overwhelming, bipartisan votes. Layoffs don't discriminate by party.

Extending unemployment benefits is the right thing to do for the economy and the fair thing to do for workers. I urge my colleagues to join me in helping out-of-work Americans and putting our economy back on track.

PLEASE PASS THIS AS A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR KENNEDY WHO HAS WORKED FOR AMERICAN WORKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELP US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't play politics with the American people anymore and pass HR5749 veto proof next week. People before politics. Please many need it!!!

We are unemployed and most of us has worked hard all of our lives. We need some help here with the unemployment Insurance extensions. for God's Sake there are people's lives at stake here.

Senator Lieberman, there are allot of people's lives at stake here when it comes to the War Funding Supplement, New GI Bill, Disaster Relief Funds and Unemployment Extension Funds. All of this is Necessary and this Legislation must be passed just as the White House and Congress put it together. Exact same Language so our President will sign it into Law. Like the person wrote yesterday,"For God's Sake there are People's Lives at stake here". When you vote or decide to delay this Bill, Please remember those words, because people's lives are at stake here. Pass the Bill please, just as it is.

Thank you for being a rare Congressman who chooses based on what they believe and not what letter follows their name.

While I have not always agreed with all of your views, I think this country would be a lot better if we had more people in both parties (or no parties) that simply voted as they believed!

Mr. Lieberman: Please reconsider your support for S-1. This is a spending bill not an economic stimulus. We Centrist/Libertarians look to reasonable politicians like yourself to resist the massive growth of inefficient government.

"Real Change" is not what is being administered --- it's a sales pitch for the uninformed.

This is the New Deal all over again. You have to look no further than Henry Morgenthau's statements on why the New Deal didn't work.

I would like all who think they know Mr. Lieberman to read the following from a 41 year old life long resident of Connecticut.
In 2005 I took my wife and 3 children ages 10,5 and 10mo to Israel. My wife was a naturalized American citizen with an American passport. My children and I were born born in CT. Upon entering, Israeli Gov. told us my American wife was not American to them and needed a permit from a guntower in the West Bank in order to return to the USA. Our 3 children became ill after the 1st week. A Lieberman staffer told me to abandon my wife if I wanted to return home with my sick children. I refused. I got help from the YMCA and Lieberman's office tried taking credit. They abandoned my American family until I began other congressman. American lives were at risk and Lieberman was quite reluctant to help. I am a graduate of Sacred Heart Univ.

he honestlt thinks we are gonig to reelect him....it was a mistake in 2006 that we will not make again....his only hope would be to pass the public option..and then only a few less people would hate him....

** POORER AMERICAN ACTIVE DUTY U.S. MILITARY AROUND THE WORLD WHO ARE RISKING AND LOSING THEIR LIVES FOR ALL OF US ~ HAVE FAMILIES BACK HOME WHO ARE ALSO DYING WITHOUT HEALTH*CARE **
~ PRESIDENT OBAMA AND U.S. SENATOR OLYMPIA SNOWE OF MAINE BOTH KNOW THAT ANY FUTURE HEALTH*CARE PLAN FOR OUR NEW AMERICA NEEDS TO ALSO ENCOMPASS ALL FAMILY MEMBERS(PARENTS & SIBLINGS) OF ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY MEMBERS...ANYTHING LESS WOULD BE UN*AMERICAN ~
**JUST MAYBE AMERICA NEEDS A FEW MORE REVOLVING DOORS IN OUR U.S. CONGRESS **
OUR COUNTRY COULD REALLY USE MANY MORE SINCERE AMERICANS LIKE THIS SPECIAL U.S.SENATOR OLYMPIA SNOWE FROM MAINE WHO CONSIDERS THIS COUNTRIES 45 MILLION POOR AMERICAN MEN WOMEN AND CHILDREN WITHOUT PROPER HEALTH CARE LIKE HER OWN FAMILY AHEAD OF HER ELECTED POLITICAL FAMILY **
45 MILLION POORER AMERICANS HAVE OBVIOUSLY BEEN TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL WITH THE PEOPLES U.S. SENATOR SNOWE OF MAINE.
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS CAN BE FOUND WITH ANY SEARCH ENGINE.
424-247-2013

he will not pass a public option....look at the money trail...not very much information... he is in the pocket of the insurance company...if you vote down this bill.. we from CT, will not let it be.