Jobless Angry at Possibility of No Benefits

If Southern GOP Governors such as Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Mark Sandford or Texas's Rick Perry truely think that they can get away with turning down the extended unemployment benefits that are being offer to the States through President Obama's economic stimulus package, then they may have another thing coming.

It seems as though many people that are unemployed and would benefit most from the money being offer to the States are outraged at the prospect that their governors are will to play petty partisan politics with their well being and they are letting them know about it.

I have been saying all along that the Governors will have to take the stimulus money, they have no choice if they or their legislatures expect to be re-elected.  It is a pocket book issue that effects people now, the unemployed don't care what it would do to future state budgets. They care about putting food on the table and being able to turn on the lights when it is dark out.

The New York Times has the full story:

As governors in nine states, mostly in the South, consider rejecting millions of dollars in federal stimulus money for increased unemployment insurance, there is growing anger among the ranks of the jobless in those states that they could be left out of a significant government benefit.

The stimulus bill recently passed by Congress includes incentives to states to expand benefits to many more jobless people, including part-time workers and those who have cycled in and out of the work force, who are not covered in many states.

The Republican governors of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, along with Alaska and Idaho, have raised protests, saying that expansion could eventually require them to raise taxes.

On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee became the first Democratic governor to express reservations on the issue.

For people like Henry Kight, 59, of Austin, Tex., the possibility that the money might be turned down is a deeply personal issue.

Mr. Kight, who worked for more than three decades as an engineering technician, discovered in September that because of complex state rules, he was not eligible for unemployment insurance after losing a job at a major electronics manufacturer he had landed at the beginning of the year.

Unable to draw jobless benefits, he and his wife have taken on thousands of dollars in credit-card debt to help make ends meet.

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