Tax Day Tea Party: South Carolina…
Courtesy of LukeAmerica2020:
This is how we party in South Carolina.
Join us for one of our Tax Day Tea Parties for 2009. We have six loacations around the state: Charleston, Columbia, Isle of Palms, Myrtle Beach, Simpsonville, and York. Together we will make a difference.
Many will stand together … across our great nation … with one voice. We’ve had enough!
Our site: http://www.CommonSense2020.comm
or
Stimulus Unemployment Benefits Update: TX, FL, AL, LA, Miss, SC, VA…
Updates on stimulus unemployment benefits…to get an idea how widely the amounts vary from state to state this line in an AP piece jumped out at me: The highest weekly unemployment compensation is $584 in New Jersey, $362 in Michigan and $240 in Arizona…(It’s a crap shoot, and God willing your cost of living will match up with your benefit amount)
The $25.00 a week unemployment boost is available to EVERYONE, Congress mandated it, but it is temporary and when funding runs out, it is gone. The only variant on that benefit is how quickly states get the funds out..
TX: (Chron.com)
Congress made sure some money is directly available for citizens without waiting for governmental decisions. Among other things:
• • Most Texans’ paychecks will be a little fatter starting this month as the Making Work Pay tax credit kicks in and employers reduce their payroll tax withholdings by about $13 a week.
• • Texas’ jobless are now receiving an extra $25 a week in their benefits as mandated by Congress, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
• • Food stamp recipients soon will get about $38 a month more to spend on necessities, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
Update on the expansion of unemployment benefits which would require changes to state law:
FL: (Sun-Sentinel):
For Florida’s jobless residents, unemployment compensation is a lifesaver. But if the state doesn’t act soon, unemployed residents who exhaust their jobless benefits may be out of luck. Florida is eligible to receive $777 million in federal money that would provide 20 more weeks of jobless benefits, in addition to the 59-week maximum now allowed. Those who have exhausted their benefits but have not yet found a job would qualify, as well as those just recently laid off…
…”We’re waiting to see what the federal government is going to do,” said Sen. Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, whose commerce committee has proposed a general bill addressing unemployment compensation.
There are a handful of other bills, but none extends benefits for Florida’s unemployed who have exhausted benefits and still don’t have a new job….
…Unemployed workers who receive 26 weeks of regular benefits are entitled to 33 weeks of emergency benefits under Obama’s stimulus package, a cash infusion geared to jump-start the U.S. economy….The maximum weekly jobless check is $275 plus $25 extra as part of the stimulus….
FL-Orlando Sentinel advises the legislature NOT take the money, follow linky for the number on what it will cost the state to expand benefits:
….House GOP leaders are happy for Florida to accept nearly $2.2 billion from Washington to cover the temporary cost of boosting weekly jobless benefits by $25 and adding as many as 20 weeks to the normal 26 weeks workers can collect them.
But they’re justifiably balking at taking another $443 million — about two months worth of payments from Florida’s unemployment-compensation trust fund — in return for permanently changing the way the state calculates benefits and permanently expanding eligibility….
NY: A commenter asks about NYS, NY has a very high benefit level, go to their site HERE for more info…
ME: (Mainebiz):
The governor is pushing a bill that would change the way Maine triggers its extended unemployment benefits, a measure that could bring as much as $38 million in federal funds to pay for up to 13 weeks of additional benefits for jobless Mainers.
The bill requires the creation of a fund of about $500,000 to pay for unemployment benefits of public and tribal employees, people who are prohibited from receiving benefit extensions via the federal economic recovery act. Creating that fund triggers federal stimulus money that would be directed to private sector employees who lost their jobs, according to Capital News Service.
VA: (Fredericksburg.com):
–Tomorrow,(4/8) the General Assembly will vote whether to let Virginia accept an additional $125 million for unemployment insurance benefits from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Stimulus Deadline Friday….
dum dum dum DUM……
…governors facing a Friday deadline to seek their states’ shares of $48.6 billion in the recovery package’s State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Orszag’s opinion puts more pressure on a handful of Republican governors who oppose the stimulus plan Obama signed into law Feb. 17….
“For a state to access its allocation of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, the governor must submit an application to the secretary of education, and there currently is no provision in the Recovery Act for the state legislature to make such an application in lieu of the governor for a state’s allocation,” Orszag wrote to Graham.
Last month, the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress, concluded that it likely would be unconstitutional for a legislature to supplant a governor in accepting and using economic stimulus money.
So the Governors have to ASK but the state legislators can override them? or maybe not…
… The Republican-controlled South Carolina General Assembly has crafted legislation to request the money, but Orszag’s letter suggests the Obama administration wouldn’t recognize or act on such a law were the legislature to pass it….
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has until Friday to choose between the philosophical and the fiscal as the deadline to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money approaches, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sanford wants authority over the funds, earmarked for education and public safety, and has pledged to refuse them unless the legislature agrees to pay down debt—an action it says it can’t afford.
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor has already compromised from his original position and said lawmakers still could prioritize education while paying off debt.
“They’re writing an intentionally irresponsible budget in an attempt to raise public pressure,” Sawyer said.
Wednesday, the White House resolved the debate about who could request the money, agreeing with an earlier opinion by S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster that only Sanford had the authority.
Sanford cheered White House budget director Peter Orszag’s opinion supporting his authority.
“We’re glad the White House concurred with the state attorney general in validating what the governor has long believed — that he should be the one directing this money,” Sawyer said.
Yeah maybe someone briefed the Constitutional Law Professor on the pesky Amendement giving states you know rights and such lol….
The Republican-controlled South Carolina Legislature has crafted legislation requesting the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund money, but Orszag’s letter suggests the Obama administration wouldn’t recognize or act on such resolution were the Legislature to pass it.
Working with the Republican leaders of the South Carolina General Assembly, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, had crafted a provision in the stimulus bill authorizing state legislatures to seek stimulus money that governors reject.
But the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, concluded last month that it likely would be unconstitutional for a legislature to supplant a governor in accepting and using economic stimulus money.
Sanford has said consistently that the debt created by the stimulus would harm future generations, and paying down debt is the best option for offsetting what he deems to be irresponsible borrowing.
Moderate in the Middle 