State Senate Tenatively Approves Help for the Unemployed and Budget Cuts

Republican leaders put a bill on the fast track that would extend federal unemployment benefits with a new formula. The Senate today tentatively gave its approval. It faces another vote before going to the House for concurrence. Republican Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said the Employment Security Commission knew a deadline for that extension was coming up this week but he ony learned about it Friday afternoon. Berger said the Governor also knew about.

The bill, HB383, also contains a continuing resolution or CR that would authorize spending for a year but cut the current budget by 13 percent if a new budget is vetoed. Democrats in the Senate were upset over the continuing resolution section, to say the least. They tried to kill that part of the bill but were unsuccessful. 

Republicans said the CR was part of good planning because Governor Perdue said recently she had plenty of “red ink” for vetoes. The GOP leaders took that as a warning on the budget.