Top Republicans in Virginia’s legislature vowed Tuesday to block a proposed expansion of unemployment benefits, a change needed to receive $125 million in federal stimulus funds, while supporters hoped to peel off enough votes from the House’s GOP majority to pass the expansion.
The General Assembly is slated to vote today on whether to accept the White House’s conditions on the stimulus funds, opening up relief to more laid-off workers, or to follow some Southern states and reject the money.
Gov. Tim Kaine has proposed to satisfy those requirements by providing benefits to two groups not currently covered: part-time workers and those in job training programs. Opponents, who include business groups and the top Republicans in both the House and Senate, say the change would saddle employers with greater costs once the stimulus money runs out.
Virginia employers now pay less than half the national average in unemployment tax each year. The changes eventually would add $4.50 per worker per year to the rate.
“Accepting these amendments would put us at a competitive disadvantage with other states,” said Senate Minority Leader Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg.
Supporters will need to persuade a handful of House Republicans, some of whom represent districts with double-digit unemployment rates, to break ranks for the measure to pass. One such legislator, Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, said Tuesday the jobless aid was too important to pass up.
“We’re trying to get 51 votes,” said House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville, on a conference call with reporters. “To do that, we have to reach out.”
Virginia posted a 6.6 percent seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February, still below the national average of 8.9 percent.
Expanding the eligibility for benefits will give Virginians incentive to seek part-time work or job training, saving employers the cost of training in-house, said Michael Cassidy, executive director of the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, which gathered 1,000 signatures on a petition supporting the measure.
The additional employer tax increases would not go into effect anytime soon, he said, “because the money from the federal government is more than sufficient to cover the incremental cost of those two changes.”
Even without the changes, Virginia already is receiving $62.5 million in unemployment benefits under the stimulus.
