By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-825700.mp3
Dallas –
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is challenging Governor Rick Perry's rejection of $555-million in federal stimulus money. The dollars were slated for Texas unemployment.
KERA's Shelley Kofler reports on the mixed reaction and the battle brewing at the capitol.
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Governor Perry made the announcement at a family-owned hardware store in Houston. He said he's rejecting the $555-million because accepting it would require Texas to change state law and provide unemployment compensation to groups not currently covered by the state.
Perry: What Washington is trying to do is force their philosophical position on the people of the state of Texas saying we want you to take this money. Take this money and when you take it we are forcing you to change. We have an unemployment insurance program that is in place. It has been in place for years and I don't think that's going to change.
State Representative Raphael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat, suggested Perry's announcement was a reelection stunt
Anchia: I can't tell if he is just playing politics for a Republican primary at the expense of Texas workers, or if he is completely out of touch with what's happening in the state. Since the economic downturn started we have lost 250,000 jobs in Texas. People are scared.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses and Texas Director Will Newton applauded Perry. To accept these stimulus funds Texas would have to expand unemployment to include part time workers or at least two other groups not currently covered. Newton and Perry claim that would raise business costs.
Newton: Well, you take money out of those business, you're gonna have fewer jobs. Therefore we're going to be in an economic stagnation for a long time to come.
But State Representative Jim Dunnam says accepting the money would not drive up business costs. Just the opposite. Dunnam chairs the bipartisan House committee analyzing all of the stimulus dollars offered to the state. He says the $555-million would more than cover the costs of expanding unemployment, and it would help plug an $800-million shortfall in the unemployment insurance fund employers will otherwise have to pick up.
Dunnam: We heard in committee this week if we don't take the federal money then the unemployment tax is going to double this year. It's going to trigger a deficit tax on the employers and they are going to have to pay it one way or another
Dunnam's committee is recommending the legislature go around Perry and pass a bill to accept the money. Powerful Republican Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts supports that recommendation. Perry could, of course, veto a bill like that. But Dunnam is betting that in this grim economy, lawmakers would have no trouble overriding a veto.