Montana’s Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte briefly became a household name when it appeared he body-slammed a hostile liberal reporter when running for Congress in a special election in 2017.
On Tuesday, Gianforte body-slammed the idea of people being paid not to work.
The governor announced that his state was withdrawing from President Joe’ Biden’s continued supplemental unemployment benefits.
Instead, Montana will offer its citizens a $1,200 back-to-work bonus.
Appearing on Fox News with host Neil Cavuto, Gianforte noted that Montana companies are struggling to find help because of federal benefits.
“Montana is open for business,” Gianforte said.
“When I got sworn in, in January, we immediately lifted the impractical government mandates,” he said. “We got rid of hours of operation, capacity limits. We got rid of our statewide mask mandate. We put lawsuit protection in place for businesses and nonprofits. And now, as we have opened up, employers can’t find workers.”
“It’s across all industries. Restaurants are having to shut down for days because they can’t find cooks or wait staff. So we made the decision yesterday these supplemental unemployment benefits, honestly, we got what we incented. We were incenting people not to work. So, we made the decision to opt-out of the federal supplemental unemployment benefits, and replace it with a back-to-work bonus.”
“This is going to help employers. And, honestly, there’s dignity in the work. And there’s also satisfaction in being self-sufficient,” Gianforte maintained.
“We made that decision yesterday. And we’re just getting a phenomenal response from our business community.
The governor explained that Montana has about 25,000 people drawing unemployment checks.
If they get a job, and stay with it for four weeks, they receive $1,200. But they cannot subsequently refile for unemployment.
“This is a one-way ticket back into the job force,” Gianforte said.
“I think nobody starts life thinking, hoping they’re going to grow up and become dependent on the government,” he continued.
“We need unemployment as a safety net for folks that find themselves in a rough spot. But it shouldn’t be a permanent status.”
“We should be incenting work, not sitting at home,” said the governor.
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Or, and I’m just spitballing here, but STOP paying able bodied people to not work. No one should be paid to exist. It’s one thing to help support them between jobs. It’s another to reward sloth.
If he shall not work, neither shall he eat.