Hagan criticizes legislature for ending long-term unemployment benefits
Published January 7, 2014
by Associated Press, published in Charlotte Observer, January 6, 2014.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said Monday she's pushing North Carolina to rejoin the rest of the states to help the long-term unemployed with emergency unemployment benefits. But Republican legislative leaders - including one who wants to unseat her this fall - argue she should have done more on the issue earlier.
Hagan held a news conference in Raleigh with Democratic state legislators, where they criticized North Carolina's General Assembly for actions that led to the elimination in July of extended federal emergency jobless benefits for as many as 170,000 families.
The payments ended because the state was disqualified from the program after the Republican-led General Assembly in early 2013 approved changes to the state's unemployment insurance system that reduced weekly benefits and the number of weeks that benefits could be received.
Meanwhile, the payments ran out nationwide Dec. 28, and the U.S. Senate planned to begin considering Tuesday a three-month extension of benefits that would affect an estimated 1.3 million people. Hagan introduced a provision last month that would make North Carolina eligible again for those benefits if they are reinstated nationwide.
"The General Assembly knowingly and willingly violated federal law, and I refuse to let the people of our state suffer because of their reckless actions," Hagan said in a written statement, adding "North Carolinians struggling to get by while looking for work should receive the same benefits as citizens in other states.
Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, later Monday blamed Hagan for failing, in late 2012 during congressional budget and tax negotiations, to find a way to exempt North Carolina from losing those benefits when the legislature changed its unemployment insurance program a couple months later.
"If she truly cared about these North Carolinians, she would have done what the General Assembly called on her to do more than a year ago," Berger and Tillis said in a statement. "But she dropped the ball and is now desperately trying to spin her way out of the damage she created."
The unemployment benefit overhaul was designed in part to accelerate the repayment of more than $2 billion in benefit payments North Carolina owed the federal government from the Great Recession. General Assembly leaders say they had asked her to grandfather North Carolina, but it didn't happen.
The emergency benefit issue is an early-year conflict between Hagan, who is seeking re-election in November, and Tillis, one of at least five Republicans seeking the Senate GOP nomination in May.
January 11, 2014 at 10:13 am
Norm Kelly says:
My understanding is that the NC state budget is roughly $20billion per year. Give or take. When it gets that much, does a few billion here or there matter? (to libs the answer is always NO!)
This editorial lists the same information that every other story about this unemployment situation states: the state had to borrow $2billion from the feds in order to continue to pay extended unemployment benefits when it was extended while the Demons controlled Raleigh. Note that if the state budget really is around $20billion, then the amount borrowed for this ONE LINE ITEM amounts to almost 10% of the total budget!!! That is unforgivable, immoral, and should be illegal. A single line item that could be avoided was simply taken on by the Demon leaders of NC. What could possibly make borrowing this much for a single program worse than borrowing 10% of the budget total for a single line item? The fact that the DemocRATs in the state legislature (and Governors office) had NO PLAN, NO IDEA how to pay this money back. And if they continued to extend unemployment benefits it would have required the state to borrow even more money from the feds. An unthinkable alternative.
So, what did the Republicans in the NCGA do? They asked PERMISSION from the feds to adjust the amount paid to unemployed so they could continue to receive money for the extended period. The FEDS responded that it was either their way or no way at all. It appears that K could have used some of her influence in Washington to allow NC to continue to pay unemployment but at a reduced rate, but she failed to pull this off. So the Demons in Washington REFUSED to negotiate with the NCGA, just like they refused to negotiate with the Republicans in the House. Who was it that caused the federal gov't shutdown? The ones who refused to negotiate: The Demons! Who was it that caused the unemployed in NC to have their 'benefits' cut off? The ones who refused to negotiate once again: The DemocRATs! How many of the problems with our economy can be traced back to Washington and back to the Demon leadership in Washington? When the budget deal came forward at the end of 2013, how many of the Demons in Washington attempted to get an extended unemployment benefits amendment added? Could K have done this during the most recent budget deal? Did K try to get this amendment added prior to voting for the deal? If not, why not? When she had the chance, did she do what she considers the right thing for NC?
His High Holiness recently made a statement that not extending the unemployment benefits now could cause a loss of over 200,000 jobs in 2014. Really? Does this come from someone with the ability to think? (that's a trick question. libs will miss it, but the rest of us already know the answer.) It's more likely that Obammy knows the extension has very little chance of passing. His socialism of health insurance is definitely having a negative impact on employment. So he's trying to get out there early to convince his base that it's the benefits extension that causes the bad numbers, not the health insurance debacle. And the sad and unfortunate part of his stupid explanation is that most in the media and too many citizens will believe him. Of course, I expect the N&D to run many editorials over the months ahead complaining about the dismal employment numbers because the racist, cold-hearted, hateful, fascist Republicans in Washington refused to make a deal with Barack because he's a (mostly) black man. ABC will run stories like this on every one of their 'news' programs, and try to slip it into several of their primetime sitcoms. Republicans will be accused of hating blacks, poor, single moms, unemployed, illegal aliens, and every other group to 'prove' their point that it's the Republicans fault that the economy sucks so bad. It will be provable that Barack was wrong one more time, but the media will ignore this aspect of the story once again. Extending unemployment benefits is good for the economy. Extending unemployment benefits is good for self-esteem. Just ask a lib.
Where does K stand on actually allowing the private sector to create jobs instead of sucking even more money out of the economy to pay people NOT to work? Where does K stand on reducing regulation so private businesses are allowed to create full-time jobs? Where does K stand on raising taxes? Where does K stand on increasing Washington spending? Her record shows that she is on the left side - I mean wrong side. (sorry. didn't meant to interject truth there!)
