Assembly Republicans may reinstate wait for jobless benefits
By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel
July 20, 2011 11:42 a.m. | Madison - Assembly Republicans will seek changes to a bill repealing a one-week delay for workers receiving jobless benefits, a top GOP leader said Wednesday.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to capture an estimated $88 million in federal money to extend jobless benefits to tens of thousands of out-of-work state residents. But they also made an unexpected change to the bill opposed by at least some GOP lawmakers in the Assembly.
In a surprising reversal, most GOP senators joined Democrats in voting to drop a one-week waiting period to get jobless benefits that they adopted just a month ago as part of the state budget. The flip-flop came as recall elections loomed for six Republican and two Democratic senators following the first such election held Tuesday.
Extending the benefits an additional 13 weeks with federal money would not touch the state's struggling unemployment insurance trust fund. But ending the waiting period would add $41 million to $56 million a year in additional costs for the fund, which is $1.4 billion in debt to the federal government.
Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) said that Republicans in his house would seek to make changes to the Senate bill with respect to the one-week delay.
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