NCGOP Leaders: Extend benefits, Avoid shutdown
After her administration put jobless benefits for 37,000 unemployed North Carolinians at risk, Gov. Beverly Perdue can extend those benefits and ensure she doesn’t shut down state government by supporting a legislative proposal.
The state’s Employment Security Commission waited until the eleventh hour to notify House and Senate leadership of an urgent problem: thousands won’t get an unemployment check unless legislators change a formula by April 16 to keep funding benefits.
House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger are proposing a simple solution to get those families their checks and keep the governor from shutting down North Carolina’s government if she vetoes the state budget.
The proposal includes a Continuing Resolution that keeps North Carolina’s government running if a budget is not signed by June 30 – the end of the current fiscal year.
The Perdue administration knew about the problem April 1, a full week before the General Assembly was notified.
A letter (see attached) from ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes to House and Senate leaders arrived at the General Assembly at close of business Friday. And before alerting legislative leaders, the ESC notified those on unemployment rolls that their benefits would expire if the General Assembly didn’t act quickly.
“This is another prime example of government incompetence,” said Berger (R-Rockingham). “If the governor wants to extend unemployment benefits, she’ll sign this bill. If she wants to shut down the government, she won’t. We’ve seen the uncertainty last-second budget negotiations bring to public employees, small businesses, and those who rely on government services. We won’t allow that to happen here. We’re getting it off the table.”
Legislators learned about the problem only five business days before the deadline to extend funding.
“We learned at the very last minute that we have to clean up yet another mess,” said Tillis (R-Mecklenburg).
“With one signature, the governor can prove she’s serious about bipartisanship, about averting a catastrophic government shutdown, about streamlining government, and about extending unemployment benefits to those in need.”
The above documents are in PDF.
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