FL GOP legislature denies unemployment extension; Today, Crist signs Executive Order allowing it.

seafan

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Fri Jul-23-10 03:55 PM
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FL GOP legislature denies unemployment extension; Today, Crist signs Executive Order allowing it.

This was in the news yesterday:

U.S. jobless benefit extension on the way - but not for many Floridians

July 22, 2010

Bill Thompson reports:

Congress on Thursday passed a $34 billion extension of jobless benefits, although Republicans from Marion and Alachua counties voted against the bill because it increased the national debt.

The measure, intended to restore unemployment benefits to 2.5 million Americans for six months, passed by a 272-151 margin � with votes falling largely along party lines.

The measure was supported by Democratic Reps. Alan Grayson of Orlando and Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, both of whom represent portions of eastern Marion County.

GOP Reps. Cliff Stearns of Ocala and Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville, whose district includes part of southwest Marion, voted against the extension.

For nearly 1,000 Marion County families, however, their votes might not have mattered anyway.

That's because the Republican-led Florida Legislature opted earlier this week not to fix a law passed this spring that now has effectively cut off benefits to 250,000 Floridians who might have found relief from the bill Congress passed Thursday.

That includes about 938 people in Marion County, according to state officials.

From the US House floor, look-down-her-nose arrogance by Ginny Brown-Waite:

"Deficits do matter. Debt matters. . . . All we ask is that the unemployment � something we all agree on � be paid for using funds already obligated for the economic recovery," she said.
"We and the American people point out, and not so subtly at times, that the way you are using the stimulus money is a waste of time, effort and certainly money."

Grayson shot back that Republicans, by delaying action on a bill that took nearly two months to months to pass, were fostering "an American tragedy in the making."
Appearing on MSNBC after the Senate vote, Grayson said of people who received the unemployment benefits, "Some of them are living in cars. Some of them are eating cat food. This is America today. Why do we spend so much money on war when we supposedly find it difficult to find the money to help these people in such dire need?"

Of the Senate Republicans who voted against the bill, Grayson added: "They voted for selfishness. They voted for greed. And the Democrats voted to save these people's lives. They (Republicans) just don't seem to understand that a decent society is one that clothes the naked, feeds the hungry and shelters the homeless."

Meanwhile, back in Tallahassee:

The Republican-controlled Florida legislature was hoping to slip this one by us when they denounced Governor Crist for calling a special session this week to place an amendment onto November's ballot that would allow voters to ban offshore drilling in Florida's near-shore waters.

After a gavel-in-gavel-out 49-minute House special session, with Republican leadership refusing to act on the drilling amendment, they also refused another opportunity to extend the expired unemployment benefits of June 5.

They claimed to want to discuss *many other* agenda items in this special session, but as it turned out, just not offshore drilling or assisting out-of-work Floridians whose unemployment assistance had run out. Or anything else. These Republicans simply turned out the lights and headed home.

A lovely bunch we have running this state into the ground.

But while the matter might be settled in Washington, Republicans in Tallahassee might start feeling heat for their failure to address the unemployment issue during the attenuated special session that was gaveled to a close on Tuesday after just two hours.

Gov. Charlie Crist called the session to discuss a constitutional amendment on offshore drilling. Democratic state Rep. Kevin Rader of Boynton Beach urged Crist to add unemployment to the agenda.

The reason was that a law passed during the regular session said people who exhausted their regular state unemployment benefits and those under the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or EUC, program, must have demonstrated their entitlement to federal "extended benefits" by June 2.

The state Agency for Workforce Innovation, or AWI, said that precluded paying unemployment claims after June 5.

In letters to Crist, Rader pointed out that his push to extend that deadline until March 2011 � which was predicated on a congressional vote to extend benefits � was shelved
.

When Rader asked for the issue to be brought up again on Tuesday, House Speaker Larry Cretul indicated lawmakers would not consider it.

"It's unlikely any idea, no matter how much merit it has, will be added to the agenda," Jill Chamberlin, spokeswoman for Cretul, told the Florida Independent Web site earlier this week.

On Thursday, Cretul told the Capitol News Service that the issue would be taken up when lawmakers return for another special session in September.

.....

When asked why it wasn't taken up, Cretul noted that Congress "passed it out after we adjourned."

"We could have but when we begin to think about what could and couldn't happen, in Washington in particular, who knows?" he added. "The reality is that we'll deal with it when we come back in special session.

Mr. House Speaker Cretul, your excuse is an outright fabrication. This was an issue in May in your regular session. You were implored to extend these benefits past June 5, when they were set to expire. You blew it off.

Democratic lawmakers, including Palm Beach County�s Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres and Rep. Kevin Rader of Boyton Beach, were among those who pushed their colleagues to extend the June 5 deadline for the benefits during the regular session that ended in May. That didn�t happen. LINK

Not so fast, you heartless Republican greedheads.

Today, the governor came to unemployed Floridians' assistance.

Crist issues executive order allowing out-of-work Floridians to get extended unemployment benefits

July 23, 2010

Dara Kam reports:

With a stroke of his pen, Gov. Charlie Crist just accomplished what lawmakers refused to do earlier this year - give long-time jobless Floridians the ability to get extended unemployment compensation benefits approved by Congress yesterday.

.....

Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, worked behind-the-scenes with Crist on the executive order granting the benefits to about 100,000 Floridians whose unemployment benefits have run out and others whose benefits will dry up before Congress� reauthorization ends.

�Unemployed Floridians are struggling in this challenging economic climate, trying to figure out how to pay their bills and support their families. We simply cannot desert the 250,000 Floridians who qualify for the extended federal assistance signed into law yesterday. I am committed to exercising my Constitutional duty to authorize the use of available federal funds to help out-of-work Floridians who qualify for this help,� Crist wrote in a release this afternoon.

Congress initially established the extended benefits program in 2008 to provide federal funds for jobless workers who exhausted their state unemployment benefits. Congress has since reauthorized the program several times.

Thank you, Governor.