NC showdown forces Gov. Perdue to accept budget cuts or stalled unemployment benefits for 37K

[Tuesday Afternoon]

Source: Daily Reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Republican legislators met in a rare weekend session Saturday to force Gov. Beverly Perdue to choose between halting unemployment benefits for about 37,000 long-term jobless workers or accepting a double-digit budget cut.

A handful of General Assembly members met to mark the final step needed to start the clock on a choice Perdue had to make before authorization for the federally funded jobless benefits later Saturday.

Perdue must sign the combined bill Saturday or the federally funded benefits will stop for workers out of work for up to 99 weeks. But poison-pill language added by Republican lawmakers would force the Democratic governor to also accept a 13 percent cut from the spending plan she proposed as a starting point for negotiations over the budget year starting in July.

GOP leaders said they were ensuring that schools, state agencies and contractors know how much state spending they could count on if budget negotiations drag beyond the start of the new budget year.



Read more: http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/2608b40a42df4dd9bed096e2b765ae55/NC-Unemployment-Benefits/

[xchrom]

1. at some point -- dems are going to have to let bad things happen.

rather than be held hostage continuously.

this isn't solving anything to give in to these ridiculous demands.

[MaeScott]

2. Kochpublicans taking Americans hostage again. Sad. nt