Rep. Spratt on South Carolina's Failure to Get 20 More Weeks of Unemployment Benefits

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October 16, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) issued the following statement today on the failure of the State of South Carolina to enact legislation allowing for 20 additional weeks of unemployment benefits.

"When my staff and I discovered in an analysis we conducted that the State of South Carolina had failed to enact legislation to allow for 20 additional weeks of unemployment benefits – 100% federally funded through the Recovery Act – I was astounded.

"All states are required to have a trigger for Extended Benefits, based on the insured unemployment rate (IUR), which is typically funded with a 50/50 state-federal match. States have the option of enacting an additional trigger based on the total unemployment rate (TUR), and with the federal government funding 100% of the bill through the Recovery Act, they had an added incentive. Had South Carolina adopted temporary legislation to implement this additional trigger, our citizens would have been receiving 7 additional weeks as early as March of this year, and starting next week, would be collecting a total of 20 additional weeks. South Carolina was one of only two states that was eligible for these benefits, but did not act.

"Our nation is in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and the citizens of South Carolina are among those bearing the brunt of it, with some 250,000 unemployed.

"The inadvertent loss of 20 additional weeks of fully funded unemployment benefits is totally unacceptable. I am hopeful the Governor and state legislature can find a remedy, and I am ready to offer my assistance in any way I can."

Source: Rep. John Spratt