Posted on 09/13/2011 12:35:04 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
A popular idea in President Obama's new jobs bill could represent a step toward fundamentally transforming the existing system of federal jobless benefits. Some critics say such a move is long overdue--but others worry that a major overhaul could threaten a program that since the Depression has been a core component of the social safety net.
Obama's jobs measure, sent to Congress Monday, contains a provision that would encourage states to replicate a voluntary Georgia program that allows jobless workers to continue collecting unemployment benefits while training with potential employers. (Last month, we looked at how effective the Georgia program has been.)
The initiative was one of the few from the president's plan that drew an enthusiastic response from Republicans. After Obama talked up the idea in his speech to Congress last week, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the number two Republican in the House, noted in response that it had originally come from the GOP, and called it "something that we should be able to get to work on right away."
But Cantor and his party seem to see the idea as more than a short-term fix for unemployment. He described the proposed overhaul as "reforming the unemployment benefit program in this country"--a goal Obama had not mentioned in his speech. And Cantor used similar language when first pushing the idea back in 2009 in a jobs plan of his own (pdf), calling on Washington to "reform the unemployment system."
So if, as looks likely, Congress passes a version of the idea, at least one party will view it as a step toward radically transforming the system. How? Currently, jobless benefits are treated as a temporary lifeline for those who can't find work.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
LLS
/S
Can someone who understands the liberal mind (I know that’s a near impossibility for conservatives) please explain to me how a liberal can justify making the unemployed work for free in order to get extended UE benefits yet it’s a violation of their civil rights and dignity to drug test someone if they’re on welfare? Seriously, I’d love to hear an explanation.
It. Is. Not. Enough. Reason. To. Pass. this. BILL!!!!!!!!!!!
sounds like an incentive for employers to keep you in a state of permanent unemployment training limbo while Uncle Sam picks up your paycheck
It’s all socialism running on debt instead of sustainable revenues from the kind of production needed. Prepare yourselves for the collapse.
SURE!
Every person in the country will become a government employee. Some will be teachers, cops, firemen, street sweepers, nurses, doctors, trash disposers, utilities operators, farmers, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, gardeners, hookers, pimps, drug dealers, merchants. And any other occupation I failed to mention.
They will all be paid the same, so they no longer need a political front. They will just have to pay 1/3 of their earnings to the Union, who will pay half of that to the DNC.
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