mr. mcdermott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcdermott: madam chair, if we fail to act, 1.7 million americans will lose their unemployment benefits by the end of this week. the house tried to address this issue a month ago as part of a much larger jobs package, but republican opposition killed the bill in the other body. america's unemployed workers cannot wait any longer for all of us to do the right thing. many of them have lost their benefits after just 26 weeks. there are people -- we are not talking about people that have had 99 weeks of unemployment. we are talking about people that have had 26 weeks of unemployment. unemployment has reached the highest levels since we've been counting, and yet only one -- one of more than 200 republicans in congress has voted to continue the benefits. so we bring it up as a stand-alone bill to extend unemployment benefits so there is no excuses. you are looking the unemployed

mr. mcdermott from washington. without objection. mr. mcdermott: madam speaker, we have the highest number of long-term unemployed workers on record. so you think we'd be overwhelmed by bipartisan cooperation for those people who have been out of work for so many months. instead, every single house republican but one voted against the legislation three weeks ago to continue emergency federal unemployment benefits. and now in the other body every republican has refused to support an extension of unemployment benefits, so a growing number of jobless workers are now losing their benefits. by the end of this week more than 900,000 americans will %- lose their unemployment benefits unless the other body accs. we hear their rumblings over there, but i'll believe it when i see it. by the end of the week the number -- the number will grow to 1.2 million. my colleagues from florida should know an stimated 80,000 floridians will lose their benefits. california, 180,000. ohio, 66,000. georgia, 57,000. and the list goes on and on. the last lifeline f

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i rise today out of disgust over recent comments by rush limbaugh about child hunger. a few days ago, i was sent mr. limbaugh's response to the news that more than 16 million children will face, quote, a summer of hunger, quote, because they won't have access to free or discounted meals they usually get at school. mr. limbaugh ultimately recommended these children dumpster dive. dumpster dive. to find food until school starts back up. in the midst of a deep recession, that has forced millions of americans to face the daily fear of losing their homes and failing to provide food for their kids, all mr. limbaugh can contribute is another awful example of shameless and ka louse commeetary. ask yourself -- and callous commentary. ask can yourself, when this is last time rush limbaugh missed a meal. take a look you judge for yourself. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from californi

mr. mcdermott: we ve auge probin country that hav't comto terms with, long-term unemploymen the nuer of amicans ha job te past simonths ve hit the hel ever record. d anle. cindyfor ea, worked the corporate uning division of p. morgan chase in upstate yo sas let go inave of layoffthat eveuay shutterethtire syracuse operations center hejob wento indian and ed colcting unemoyment benefits. her n wo i ed everything o tre. now that she is aboo run t f benefits, has arted taking money out ofer.a. and he health insurance face fe of long her he. i hear similar stors from over the coury. jos amicans are deerately looking r wo, jo to gorounyet. last weeki coucd a arin my suommitteeo discus log-term unemploym problems. re are aew of thfacts highlightthheing. arly0% o the employed haven'be abl find a job r more than six mont. he highe number ever corded, whh goesack must be cated to restore the lar market tit e-cesslel. this huge jobs lecreaby eit years ofross enomic smagt under th bh admination,as left fi unpl worrs cpeting for every availle job. rnding to ese record tes long-te uemployment, our firstrior

mr. mcdermott of washington. mr. moran of kansas. mr. davis of illinois. mr. burton of indiana. mr. forbes of virginia. mr. defazio of oregon. mr. mchenry, north carolina. ms. ros-lehtinen, florida. ms. foxx, north carolina. mr. fortenberry, nebraska. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. ms. kaptur: madam speaker, i thank you very much and ask unanimous consent to insert extraneous materials into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. kaptur: thank you. madam speaker, tonight i want to devote extra time to talking about the proposed financial reform bill the conference committee report being worked on at that moment that is likely to come before the house later in the week. i wanted to put the discussion tonight in a broader context in hopes that my colleagues will listen and consider the bill to be brought before us. let me begin with this% statement. bankers hold a very privileged position in our society because, in fact, they hold the