23 States Have NOT Expanded Jobless Benefits Despite Stim Funds Available

$3.1B set aside for jobless unclaimed
Updated 1h 47m ago
By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — More than $3.1 billion in stimulus money for state unemployment insurance programs is sitting in a federal trust fund because 23 states haven't expanded their jobless benefits, Labor Department records show.

Nearly 350,000 out-of-work Americans could get benefits if all those states revamp their unemployment systems to qualify for federal money, according to estimates from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a workers' advocacy group. In all, the stimulus package offers $7 billion to states that make changes, which can include offering benefits to part-time workers.

Some Republicans such as Gov. Rick Perry of Texas have criticized the program, saying expanding benefits would force their states to raise taxes on employers once the stimulus money runs out.

GOP governors or lawmakers in 11 states have declined to change their systems to qualify for about $1.7 billion in stimulus funding. The other 12 states have either made only some of the changes, not applied for the funds or not taken legislative votes on the changes.

The federal funds are enough to cover an average of about seven years of expanded benefits and could forestall tax hikes in some states, says Maurice Emsellem of the NELP. That's because taxes on employers in most states automatically go up when their unemployment insurance trust funds are depleted. Unemployment taxes will go up in Indiana, Alabama and Florida and are likely to rise in Texas, all states that declined to seek the money.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-30-unemployment-funds-unclaimed_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

that sure is the Christian thing to do...

this where people who are unemployed could learn about it? I imagine they'd be up in arms if they knew what was really going on, or not going on.

In the meantime, everyone blames this admin.

How dare they play with people's lives in this way?

This needs to be shouted from the rooftops...


K&R

the pot(add new persons to rolls) then when the Stimulus
runs out it would be difficult to take them off the rolls
and they would have to cut other programs or raise taxes.

Conservative Economic Philosophy does not see safety net
programs as a role for government. They are willing only
to help the poorest of the poor.

Sometimes it appears we are truly 2 different countries
with world views miles apart.

"They are willing only to help the poorest of the poor."

I haven't seen any indication of that at all.

They're not even thinking of the poor, or unemployed, but their own political fortunes and what would become of them were their state to actually help their residents (because under a Dem plan, that's a no-no).