Florida lawmakers will not accept stimulus money as follows:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires state legislatures to broaden the unemployment guidelines to allow more women, part-timers and low-wage workers to qualify.
And in Florida, lawmakers are the ones balking at expanding the rolls, though Republican Gov. Charlie Crist supports accepting the federal funds.
The Florida House leadership this week sent an email to members advising them how to respond if constituents complain about the state's not accepting $444 million in federal funds. Representatives should tell residents that the federal money will only last two months and then businesses will have to cover the costs, potentially prompting them to lay off more workers, the email said.
"This isn't about not being compassionate," said Adam Hasner, House Majority Leader in Florida, where unemployment is at 9.4%. "It's about not making a problem worse."
Read more at:,
http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/27/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/index.htm?cnn=yes
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2 comments:
comment from Lynn:
actually it is two years - then the governors are the ones who have to take the slack when programs started temporarily have to lay off workers after two years when the Feds cut off the funding...many states aren't accepting this "band-aid" treatment for our economy.
Good for them!
:-)
Lynn
Jess asked me to post this for him:
Unemployment is meant for a short time anyway. If it lasts two years, that is all it may take to get the economy going again. It occurs quite often that unemployment is extended temporarily in hard times. It is better to give this money to the temporarily unemployed worker. Since they need products and services, they will in turn give it back to the people who produce something in the world.
Does the congress think that it is better to give it to AIG and their multi-millionaire customers to insure their risky real-estate speculation? Just think if this real state bubble had not burst. Our kids could never have afforded their own home. Think about it, these multi-billion dollar real-estate investment corporations produce nothing but they milk the worker and the young people just starting out. Maybe we should supply from the bottom up rather than giving it to the billionaire real-estate and money speculators who definitely don’t need it and don’t produce anything so they can employ an army of people who don’t produce anything either. I am for capitalism but to remain free we must be more discerning and realize there is good capitalism and bad. For starters, let us support those people that use their talent or capital to produce something more than balance sheets and power.
It would be better if we gave these workers jobs. But I do not begrudge them. The Federal government is only offering them less than one one-thousandth (1/1000) of the amount they gave to the money changers.
Yes, give it to these people rather than the super rich behind the CEO’s that did their bidding. This will stimulate the economy and reword those that produce.
Free enterprise and capitalism is usually good but there is nothing free or good about it if it is taken away by big business, government or the super rich.
Jess
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