RALEIGH (AP) — Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue on Friday sized up who would be blamed for cutting off unemployment benefits for about 37,000 long-term jobless workers — something lawmakers could reverse later if they wanted.
Republicans legislative leaders scheduled rare but perfunctory sessions today in a move to force Perdue to choose that same day whether to veto or sign a bill that would preserve jobless benefits for thousands. The measure also would force her to accept a 13 percent cut from the spending plan she proposed for next year as a starting point for negotiations.
Without Perdue’s approval, the federally funded benefits will stop for those out of work for up to 99 weeks. A veto isn’t necessarily the end of the benefit checks. The jobless workers would see their payments stopped, but they could be made whole retroactively if legislators decided to relent later.
House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, warned Friday, though, that there’s no guarantee the money would be restored.
“If the governor takes the position it’s her way or no way, then she can tell those 37,000 people why they’re not going to get that check,” he said. “If you told the average person who may be denied their check as the result of the governor’s actions next week, they’d be calling the governor, not us.”
Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said the governor was left with two bad choices.
“Clearly the governor is very concerned about the 37,000 people who may have to wait for their benefits if this doesn’t pass, But she’s also gravely concerned about the draconian cuts that would occur to our education system if this forced budget in the (legislation) is implemented,” Pearson said.
Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, initially described their decision to link continuing unemployment benefits to diminishing Perdue’s ability to veto a budget as necessary to avoid a shutdown of state government operations. But it is not clear if a shutdown would happen since the state constitution gives the governor power to manage money in line with revenues.
Legislative leaders more recently have emphasized their goal of guaranteeing state funding levels so that schools and businesses would have a spending benchmark if an impasse lasts into the new budget year in July.
“Will we shut down? No,” Tillis said Thursday. “So by just simply saying, if we are still negotiating a budget in July let’s at least know how the government is going to run … that seems like sound fiscal policy to me. And it’s a moot point if we get the budget approved beforehand.”
The political tussle over budgets and jobless benefits comes as a new poll finds more North Carolina residents have a negative view of Perdue than the General Assembly, which is in the hands of Republicans for the first time in 140 years.
Fifty-two percent of residents reported disapproving of the way Perdue is handling her job as governor, an Elon University Poll released Friday said. Forty-one percent disapprove of the job the General Assembly is doing. Six out of 10 respondents said they believed the economy is on the wrong track.
Political analyst and consultant John Davis said Perdue and Republican leaders are still feeling out how to work with the reality of divided state government.
“Everybody is looking sort of like a fifth-grade birthday party dance. There’s a lot of stepping on toes and awkwardness as they joust for advantage,” Davis said. “She’s struggling to find out how to manage this emboldened group of Republican leaders. They’re smart. Now they have political muscle which is something that they’ve never seen before.”
North Carolina is one of about three dozen states in which an extended benefits program of up to 20 weeks of compensation was created as a way to lessen the pain for the long-term unemployed caught in the recession’s massive job losses.
The U.S. Labor Department notified North Carolina officials nearly two weeks ago that the extended benefits program has to stop paying out by Saturday because the state’s recent three-month average unemployment rate had improved from 2010 and 2009. South Carolina and 13 other states have passed legislation to revise their formula and keep the extended benefits flowing, the ESC said.