Unemployment insurance


Rose Garden 2:49 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Tomorrow there’s going to be a very important vote in the Senate about how much influence special interests should have over our democracy. Because of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in the Citizens United case, big corporations –- even foreign-controlled ones –- are now allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on American elections. They can buy millions of dollars worth of TV ads –- and worst of all, they don’t even have to reveal who’s actually paying for the ads. Instead, a group can hide behind a name like “Citizens for a Better Future,” even if a more accurate name would be “Companies for Weaker Oversight.” These shadow groups are already forming and building war chests of tens of millions of dollars to influence the fall elections. Now, imagine the power this will give special interests over politicians. Corporate lobbyists will be able to tell members of Congress if they don’t vote the right way, they will face an onslaught of negative ads in their next campaign. And all too often, no one will actually know who’s really behind those ads. So the House has already passed a bipartisan bill that would change all this before the next election. The DISCLOSE Act would simply require corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their activities. So when special interests take to the airwaves, whoever is running and funding the ad would have to appear in the advertisement and claim responsibility for it -– like a company’s CEO or the organization’s biggest contributor. And foreign-controlled corporations and entities would be restricted from spending money to influence American elections -- just as they were in the past.

Today, I signed the unemployment insurance extension to restore desperately needed assistance to two and a half million Americans who lost their jobs in the recession. After a partisan minority used procedural tactics to block the authorization of this assistance three separate times over the past weeks, Americans who are fighting to find a good job and support their families will finally get the support they need to get back on their feet during these tough economic times. Now it’s time for Congress to act on more proposals that support our economic recovery, including passing critical aid to our states and support to small businesses. Small businesses are the engine of job growth, and measures to cut their taxes and make lending available should not be held hostage to partisan tactics like those that unconscionably held up unemployment insurance.

On Thursday, July 22, 2010, the President signed into law: H.R.

See below for an answer to a question(marked with an asterisk) posed in the briefing that required follow up.
Statement by President Barack Obama on Senate Passage of Unemployment Insurance Extension
Tonight, the United States Senate finally overcame weeks of parliamentary roadblocks by a partisan minority, and voted to restore desperately needed unemployment insurance assistance to two and a half million Americans who lost their jobs in the recession. Americans who are working day and night to get back on their feet and support their families in these tough economic times deserve more than obstruction and partisan game-playing that happens too often here in Washington. I thank the members of the Senate who stood on the side of these working families today, and urge members of the House to pass this extension so I can quickly sign it into law. I also call on Congress to act on more proposals that support our economic recovery, including passing critical aid to our states and support to small businesses to create new private sector jobs.
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