Can $555 million buy common sense?
April 20, 2009
Job losses in Texas have averaged 50,000 a month since January. Those numbers don't begin to tell the human story of loss of dignity that a loss of income brings, but if compassion doesn't move you, perhaps the financial hit on the Texas unemployment compensation fund will.
Written by Editorial, The Austin American Statesman
Just after the Texas Senate voted to defy Gov. Rick Perry and take federal unemployment assistance funds, the latest jobless figures were posted: 47,100 Texans lost their jobs in March.
Job losses in Texas have averaged 50,000 a month since January. Those numbers don't begin to tell the human story of loss of dignity that a loss of income brings, but if compassion doesn't move you, perhaps the financial hit on the Texas unemployment compensation fund will.
Though Travis County has done better than the state trend, continued job losses elsewhere in the state will cause the unemployment compensation fund to drop $839 million below the minimum required level by Oct. 1.
That means Texas employers will be tapped for the difference. The federal stimulus package offers Texas $555 million to take some of the bite out of the increase coming our way.
As has been well-publicized, Perry wants to refuse the federal stimulus money, saying there are too many strings attached. Among them: extending benefits to those seeking part-time jobs. Only full-time job seekers are eligible. Another would extend benefits to workers who leave their jobs to care for a sick family member or who leave their jobs to follow a spouse who relocates.
State Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, noted that the state would have to borrow $2 billion to shore up the unemployment fund if the stimulus money is rejected. While the $555 million won't cover the shortfall, it minimizes it. In urging passage of legislation to take the money, Eltife also noted that the federal funds come with some anti-fraud protections.
The measure now goes to House. It's a common-sense bill and should get support, but common sense doesn't always prevail in the Texas Legislature.
And even if it does, the bill faces an almost certain veto by Perry, who has stuck out his political chest so far on this issue that he may not feel like he has a choice.
If Perry vetoes the bill, he sets himself up against the interests of the growing number of Texans who have lost their jobs and Texas employers who will be taxed to shore up an unemployment compensation fund straining under the weight of their claims.
A veto will win the governor more approbation of the ultra-conservative talk show crowd at the literal expense of Texans made jobless.
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