Friday, November 20, 2009
The Orlando Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE — Earlier this week, a cadre of Democratic voices from Alex Sink to Kendrick Meek called for Florida legislators to revisit their decision last spring not to expand jobless benefits and draw down an additional $444 million in federal stimulus dollars.

Their argument was this: taking the money could have delayed or prevented a massive tax increase headed for businesses thanks to the state’s now-drained unemployment compensation fund. Republicans basically said the money was too little, too late to prevent the statutorily required tax hikes on 474,000 businesses starting Jan. 1.

Today, Democrats are again hammering on Florida’s GOP leadership in Tallahassee for not taking the money. The reason: <a href=”http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/11/florida-jobless-rate-hits-112-percent.html” targtet=”_blank”>Florida’s unemployment rate ticked up</a> to 11.2 percent in October, from 11.1 percent a month earlier.

“The challenges facing our families and small businesses are obvious to anyone paying attention. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the Florida House has turned its back on countless citizens who see the need for helping jobless Floridians with a fairer Unemployment Compensation system,” House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, said in a statement.

“Florida House Democrats remain hopeful that Republican leaders will drop their opposition to modernizing Florida’s Unemployment Compensation system and will join Governor Charlie Crist in approving the use of $444 million in federal stimulus to assist the growing-number of jobless Floridians. These dollars will be spent helping families buy food, pay rent and will generally boost economic activity and retail business throughout the state.”

Said U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Miami-Dade Democrat running for U.S. Senate: “Tallahassee cannot further penalize Florida’s families and small businesses through legislative inaction while people are struggling in our state.”

And so on. Democrats rightly note that a Republican governor was also in favor of taking the extra federal money last year, and thereby expanding the pool of unemployed workers eligible for benefits. But it doesn’t sound any more likely that House Republicans will reconsider their opposition to the idea than it did Wednesday.

“House Republicans’ top priority is recharging Florida’s economy and helping create jobs for Floridians. House Democrats’ priority seems to be taking more federal stimulus dollars and obligating Florida workers and businesses to federal mandates that will raise taxes and have long-term negative consequences,” House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-West Palm Beach, said in a statement. “House Democrats would have more credibility if they would offer ideas for creating jobs, not just their tiring refrain of more Washington stimulus spending.”