
What the critics say Opponents said Perry was spurning workers hurt by the plummeting national economy. Taking the federal money would save on taxes and prices in the long run, they said. “Texas families are hurting and are worried about how they are going to keep their homes and pay their bills,” said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. “Today, Gov. Perry told them: ‘good luck with that.’ If the governor won’t do his job, we’ll go around him.” Republican Jim Pitts of Waxahachie, chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee, seemed prepared to join forces. He voted to accept the federal unemployment aid. He was joined by four Democratic state representatives at an Austin meeting of a legislative committee studying the stimulus aid. Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, voted no. Waco-based economist Ray Perryman had just told the committee, “We’re probably better off taking the money.” Without the funds, Perryman said the state’s unemployment fund is projected to run dry this year, possibly triggering higher unemployment insurance levies on employers even without the state’s acceptance of federal funds.
The latest figures With a rising unemployment rate of 6.4 percent, well below the rate of other big states, Texas reported a record loss of 77,800 jobs in January. In 2008, 20 percent of out-of-work Texans were eligible to collect benefits, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Only South Dakota, at 18 percent, had a lower eligible portion. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, primed to face Perry in the 2010 Republican primary for governor, warned about consequences like the one mentioned by economist Perryman — without saying whether Perry made the wrong decision: “With the state unemployment fund dangerously close to falling below the legal threshold, it is imperative (he) does nothing that potentially burdens small businesses with higher taxes in tough economic times or pushes those who have recently become unemployed and their families into further economic peril.”
2 comments:
FYI: That January number of Texas job losses was revised downward last week... and Texas has a lower jobless rate by far than most other states because it is a business-friendly state.
Interesting...I posted this because the Texas Workforce Commission announced that the state lost 75,800 jobs in January. I just couldn't believe Rick Perry rejected the federal government’s offer of $555 million in aid to the unemployed. Nonetheless, it's uplifting to hear that the job losses are downward. Thanks for contributing to Boy-Cott Econ!
-Mamba:::
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