Handful of Governors May Refuse Federal Unemployment Benefits

Some GOP governors say new rules on unemployment benefits would hurt their states so they aren't going to accept a portion of the $787 billion recovery and reinvestment act signed into law this week.

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal is sticking to his position of rejecting part of the federal stimulus money for his state, saying Sunday that accepting an increase in unemployment benefits will lead to higher taxes on businesses in his state.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin say they may follow suit. They say the money to be disbursed to the states in the $787 billion spending and tax cuts package comes with too many strings attached.

"The unemployment insurance reform, if you will, would require the state to pay people who are not willing to take a full-time job," Barbour told FOX News, saying his state is not going to expand benefits to part-time workers. "We're not going to change that. ... We're going to give up about $50 million of federal money."

"It would be like spending a dollar to get a dime," Jindal said on NBC's "Meet the Press. "The federal stimulus bill says it has to be a permanent change in state law if you take this money, so within three years, the federal money is gone, we've got now a permanent change in our laws."

Read the rest here. It will be a shame if the unemployed, who really can't find a job suffers because of the Government loopholes.

Handful of Governors May Refuse Federal Unemployment Benefits