Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Gov. Jan Brewer has consistently stated that she supports a one word amendment to Arizona's unemployment insurance statutes to continue an additional twenty weeks of emergency federal assistance for those whose unemployment benefits are set to expire at 79 weeks. This federal stimulus program is set to expire at the end of this year. It costs the state of Arizona nothing, nada, zip.
But Gov. Brewer has also consistently fallen back on the convenient excuse that she needs the approval of the Speaker of the House and our de facto governor, Senate President Russell Pearce, in order to call a special session to pass this one word amendment to Arizona's unemployment insurance statutes. It would require passage by a super-majority to pass the bill as an emergency measure to go into effect immediately.
Tea-Publicans in the Arizona legislature are opposed to doing anything to aid the unemployed in tough economic times. This is a failure of leadership by our lame-duck governor. She is powerless in the face of opposition from her own Tea-Publican Caucus. Arizona needs to take action to help its unemployed:
It's rare that the state has an opportunity to offer a helping hand to Arizonans in need while simultaneously delivering a boost to the local economy – and all at no cost to the state.
This is one of those opportunities.
With a minor statutory change, we can ensure that Arizona receives all of the federal unemployment dollars for which it is eligible.
For our local economy, these dollars represent an immediate cash infusion of nearly $3.5 million a week as recipients spend on necessities like food, rent and clothing. For the state's long-term jobless, these dollars can make the difference between scraping by and falling behind – between paying the rent and living on the streets.
This isn't some hypothetical exercise. Without action by the end of the week, an estimated 15,000 jobless Arizonans will immediately run out of unemployment assistance. By the end of the year, 20,000 to 30,000 more will join them.
This is followed by typical Brewer pandering to her Tea-Publican base, followed by typical Obama derangement syndrome…. blah, blah, blah.
So, here's the deal: The federal government has made available an extra 20 weeks of unemployment aid for states, like Arizona, with persistently high unemployment. With a simple change in state law – allowing the state to measure its jobless rate over three years rather than just two – legislators can join me in ensuring that this 100 percent federally funded aid flows to Arizonans in need.
Not one penny will come from state funding. Not one. And this change won't obligate the state to a pricier unemployment program in the future.
What this statutory change will do is throw a lifeline worth a little more than $200 a week to unemployed Arizonans who demonstrate and document their efforts to find work.
Wait for it… here's the sweetener for the GOP's war on the unemployed:
As part of this action, I'm proposing steps to safeguard against program fraud and abuse by requiring that recipients of unemployment aid:
– Search for job prospects at least four days a week and document their efforts.
– Certify weekly that they are aware they must accept any job offer that pays at least minimum wage.
By making this change, Arizona will join a parade of states that have already done so, including conservative, budget-conscious states such as Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Idaho and South Carolina.
Likewise, if Arizona opts against this move, it will be virtually alone. Of states in a similar position, only three are in jeopardy of allowing their federal aid to dry up – and elected officials in Pennsylvania, Alabama and Wisconsin are moving quickly to prevent that from happening.
More blah, blah, blah.
Allowing federally funded unemployment aid to expire would needlessly increase the pain for as many as 45,000 Arizona families.
It need not happen.
Just call the special session, governor, and keep them in session until you get what you want. That's called leadership. You are telegraphing that your only true intention here is to be able to say "oh well, I tried, but the big bad legislature just wouldn't go along. So sorry (not really)."
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Let’s be clear, the Federal Government is not broke and the country is not broke. But thanks to policies from Reagan to Bush II, we have borrowed so much that a good portion of GDP is affected by these payment, interest, etc.
Where were the outcries when this was going on. Who knew. Much of this was off budget. Our politicians drove us to this point – we did not. We were not asked.
Special Interests and lobbyists are as complicit as politicians, we need to do better at selecting our representatives.
When we no longer care for our fellow man (or woman), we are lost as a society and this is the direction we are being driven.
If our politicians can’t do better (will of the people) with our tax dollars – then “we the people” must speak out.
Chinese money is not involved in extending benefits – but it was to pay wealthy/business massive tax cuts, it was to fund Bush TARP, it was to fund Prescription Drug Benefit and it possibly is to continue funding a defense budget that’s close to $1 Trillion per year and it was involved when Reagan lowered the business tax drastically and it will be under Paul Ryan’s plan to give more tax breaks to wealthy/business. And it is involved in funding 2 illegal and pointless wars.
Chuck Coughlin must have advised his client, Jan, to move on the special session anyway.(Chuck needs Jan to be reelected, so he has a governor sympathetic to CCA). This morning’s paper says Brewer is calling a special session to get the available federal money for unemployment. Here’s how two of her fellow Repubs responded: (From AZ Daily Star)
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_8edb2ca5-acea-53ea-a6ca-bc86551aec0b.html
“Every day we’re reading how this (federal) debt continues to escalate,” said House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden. “The members are very anxious about borrowing. And they don’t believe that federal money is free.”
Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, echoed the sentiment. “We’re not taking federal money; we’re taking Chinese money,” he said, with that nation financing much of the U.S. deficit spending. “We’re broke as a country, we’re broke as a state, and we’re spending money we don’t have.”
No mention of the plight of their fellow Arizonans (and constituents) who are out of work. No mention of the human consequences of unemployment. No, just ideological rants.
Do Arizonans REALLY want these less than compassionate conservatives representing them?