COMSTOCK FOR DELEGATE BLOG
Sunday, April 19, 2009
In Case You Missed It: “Virginia Makes the Right Choice on Jobless Benefits"
By Stu Mendelsohn
As printed in The Washington Post
Article Excerpt
The decision by Virginia lawmakers not to expand the scope of unemployment benefits to Virginians [Metro, April 14] was the right choice for the state in the long term.
Virginia is facing great challenges, and we must work together if we want to return to economic prosperity. The debate on unemployment benefits is not about which political party would be best suited to defend employees and employers but can unemployment benefits help spur economic recovery and if so, is it better to extend or expand those benefits?
Businesses have a long-standing record of supporting unemployment-benefit extensions during a declining economy. The Fairfax Chamber of Commerce fully supported extending unemployment benefits by an additional 13 weeks, making some people eligible to receive a total of 59 weeks in benefits. It's important to note that these benefits will be paid solely by Virginia businesses and not by federal stimulus money. Also, thanks to bipartisan action by the General Assembly and support from the business community, unemployed workers will now have 65 percent of their health insurance premiums paid for them.
These measures are aimed at extending benefits to currently eligible unemployed Virginians; the amendments discussed in the article would have permanently expanded benefits to include part-time workers. This would have strained a dwindling unemployment benefits fund and jeopardized benefits for Virginians who had lost full-time jobs.
In addition, the expanded benefits would apply to part-time workers, even if they were offered and refused suitable full-time work. That scenario is a current disqualifier for full-time workers. An expansion to include part-time workers strikes at the fundamental definition of unemployment insurance: an insurance program that pays defined benefits to individuals who become unemployed through no fault of their own and who are available for and are looking for full-time work.
Read the complete article...
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