 |
|
I joined with Sen.
Tartaglione and Gov. Ed
Rendell at a news conference
to urge Sen. Republicans to
move Unemployment
Compensation legislation to
the floor of the Senate for
a full vote. |
Bill Held Hostage
A week ago, 17,880 jobless workers in
Pennsylvania exhausted their
unemployment benefits, even though there
is money available from the federal
government to help them for seven more
weeks.
The reason those laid-off workers lost
their benefits is that a bill that would
allow Pennsylvania to qualify for the
federal aid is being held hostage in a
Senate committee as
Republicans try to use it as leverage in
their budget negotiations.
There is no excuse for this. The workers
who lost their benefits – including
4,000 in Philadelphia and 870 in
Montgomery County -- were among the
first victims of the recession, and have
been looking for work in a Pennsylvania
job market that has been losing 4,000
jobs a week.
The sharply partisan House of
Representatives approved the bill 197-1
on July 7, and it has since sat in the
Senate Labor and Industry Committee
where the Republican chairman has not
scheduled a meeting to allow a vote that
would send it to the full Senate.
Under pressure from Sen. Christine M.
Tartaglione, the Democratic Chair of the
committee, the Republican chairman told
news reporters that 10 days was not
enough time for them to
 review the
five-page bill. He said this on the same
day that Senate Republicans gave Senate
Democrats six hours to review their
431-page budget plan.
It doesn’t make sense.
Even for those who are not inclined
toward compassion for the unemployed, it
makes sense to take the federal money
which comes with no costs to workers,
employers, or
state
government. Because some large counties
and municipalities are self-insured for
unemployment, the bill will require
Philadelphia and some other
municipalities to pay for the extension
for laid-off government workers. The
total expense across Pennsylvania would
be a little more than $300,000. In
exchange, we receive $145 million.
That’s a budget even the most cynical
conservative can appreciate.
We know that unemployed workers,
receiving a fraction of their former
salary and no health care, are not
putting this money into the bank to earn
interest. These workers are putting the
money directly into the economy at a
time when it needs it.
We have held public events and written
letters to get Senate Republican
leadership to allow a vote on House Bill
1770, and it appears that we are being
heard.
Along with Sen. Tartaglione and Gov.
Rendell, I will continue to push for a
vote on this bill that is so vital to
thousands of families in our region.
|
