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State accepts federal money

Legislature accepts aid to help pay for state unemployment; Nass only one to vote ‘no’

The Wisconsin state Legislature voted Wednesday to approve a bill that would end the distribution of state unemployment benefits and begin the payment of federal benefits to the almost 180,000 out-of-work Wisconsin residents.

In a special session, the bill was passed almost unanimously, with only Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, voting in opposition.

According to Nass, the bill will not benefit Wisconsin citizens because it will eliminate eight weeks of unemployment compensation that individuals would otherwise receive.

“Had this bill not been passed, workers would get the emergency unemployment benefits from the state plus the additional 20 weeks of federal benefits,” Nass said. “I would argue that the workers are going to want all the benefits that are entitled to them under state and federal laws, and the Legislature shouldn’t cut them.”

Nass added despite the bill’s efforts to save money, the state would still have to borrow $700 million from the federal government to make up for the deficits currently facing the state’s Unemployment Reserve Fund.

Ultimately, Nass said the bill doesn’t fix the fund, and it will likely be depleted again.

Senate President Fred Risser, D-Madison, disagreed with Nass, arguing that the bill is very important and will help save the state a considerable amount of money.

“The bill will give people receiving unemployment benefits a chance to plug into federal money instead of state money,” Risser said. “It will provide a savings of around $44 million to the state.”

In regards to individuals losing eight weeks of benefits, Risser said the financial situation by the time this goes into effect might not require so many unemployment payments to be made to citizens.

According to Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, the bill will help alleviate the pressure on the committee as they work to pass the budget this session.

Gov. Jim Doyle must sign the bill in order to become law which, according to Risser, he is likely to do.