RALEIGH (AP) — Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration isn’t saying whether it would seek to restore emergency benefits to the long-term unemployed should Congress pass a law allowing North Carolina back into the program.
The U.S. Senate voted earlier this week on reviving the benefits nationwide for an additional three months. The bill also includes a provision allowing North Carolina workers to receive those benefits too after they were terminated in July. That happened when the legislature enacted benefit reductions in the state unemployment program in early 2013.
A McCrory spokesman said Wednesday the office wouldn’t comment unless the bill became law. And the head of the agency for North Carolina jobless benefits told a General Assembly oversight committee his office is always looking at contingency plans.