unemployment compensation

And Democratic leaders had a few words for the Deputy Assistant Governor:

In anticipation of public outcry, General Assembly legislative assistants were summoned to a meeting held by Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Dale Folwell, in which they were given talking points on how to respond to angry callers. These talking points did not direct callers to individuals with the authority to
change this policy, but said merely to acknowledge the loss of benefits without explanation or assignment of responsibility. In short, these talking points provided political cover for the McCrory administration and legislators who support cutting the benefits.

Here's a thought: if you know something is going to hurt people so much you need to start doing damage control before the pain even begins, then maybe you've made a horrible mistake. Here's the letter in its entirety:

It's not a solution in search of a problem, it's a meme in search of credibility:

The N.C. House wants the public to submit evidence of unemployment fraud to bolster their efforts to reform the system. A task force formed by Speaker Thom Tillis is trying to identify fraud and abuse in the unemployment system is asking people to email comments to members.

I can read these guys like a comic book. This "outreach" effort is designed for one thing only: To give credence to manufactured/fictional/anonymous/hearsay "evidence" which will be presented in Committee, to make the (real) statistical evidence seem grossly underreported. The actors are there, the props are there, the only thing missing is a curtain.

Solving NC's unemployment woes by promoting the denial of benefits:

The suspension of the rules Wednesday stemmed from a June 23 letter from the U.S. Department of Labor to state officials. It raised concerns about provisions in the bill that would have given employers 30 days to protest claims made by former workers and language specifying what kind of misconduct would warrant a person from being disqualified for receiving benefits.

You know, it's bad enough Republicans have done absolutely zilch in the area of job creation. But this less-than-human approach to policy could actually encourage companies to terminate employees. And it's no big surprise that such an anti-worker rule would run into Federal trouble:

If speaking untruths is all you can do, then step the fuck down:

Tillis said he was concerned about more than the 37,000 people affected: The tens of thousands of state employees whose fates would be uncertain if an agreement can't be reached on the budget.

Since apparently nobody else is going to call you on this lie, I'll do it: If Governor Perdue had signed this piece of garbage, the fates of those tens of thousands of state employees wouldn't be uncertain, their fates would be sealed:

After a long period of political wrangling by Sen. Bunning of Kentucky, the Senate has passed an extension of unemployment benefits for the millions of people out of work and out of benefits in our country (oh, and by a large margin, I might add). "No Show" Burr? Once again on the losing side and once again an embarrassment to our state.

The 78-19 vote on the 30-day extension known as H.R. 4691 came minutes after the Kentucky Republican made a final plea on the floor of the Senate for his colleagues not to borrow the money

.

Um ... yeah ... Burrski was one of the 19. Lovely, huh? One more nail in his coffin, me thinks.

Once again, Richard Burr and his Republican colleagues oppose helping those who need it the most:

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said yesterday that he is willing to hold an extension of unemployment benefits hostage in the Senate unless he is given the opportunity to cut taxes for the very wealthiest estates in the country. And other members of the GOP caucus are not making things any easier.

First, Reid attempted to pass the extension by unanimous consent late last night, only to see the attempt thwarted by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), who blocked the measure because of “a dispute over how it should be funded.” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), meanwhile, said that he would support a short-term extension of benefits, but doesn’t want to accommodate Reid’s request for a full-year extension:

"If we intend to have some immediate impact on the economy through what we’re doing, why would we be extending unemployment insurance for a year??"