And then there were seven.
The Free Press readers will recall that Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte announced last week that his state was withdrawing from supplemental federal unemployment benefits promoted by the Biden administration.
Gianforte said Montana instead would pay a $1,200 “back-to-work” bonus because many of his constituents were finding it more lucrative to skip working.
Now, the number of Republican governors agreeing with Gianforte, and moving to end the Biden administration’s payouts, has grown.
Since then, Govs. Henry McMaster, South Carolina; Kay Ivey, Alabama; Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas; Tate Reeves, Mississippi; Kim Reynolds, Iowa; and Doug Burgum, North Dakota.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News on Monday, McMaster said, “This is about as close to socialism that I’ve seen. We’ve got help-wanted signs up everywhere, we get calls and letters, and texts from all sorts of businesses all across the state looking for people to work. People won’t come to work because they’re getting as much money or more in some cases by staying home.”
“It’s a counterproductive policy and I’m afraid what the Biden administration is doing is that they’re telling everybody that the virus is still rampant and still in great danger,” he added. “Everybody has to stay home. That’s not true. Go get a job, get back to work. That’s how you build an economy and a family and everything else. The Biden proposals are totally underproductive, killing incentive, and it puts us right on the road to socialism. We’ve got to stand up and fight against this.”
Also on Monday, Ivey said in a statement, “As Alabama’s economy continues its recovery, we are hearing from more and more business owners and employers that it is increasingly difficult to find workers to fill available jobs, even though job openings are abundant. “Among other factors, increased unemployment assistance, which was meant to be a short-term relief program during emergency-related shutdowns, is now contributing to a labor shortage that is compromising the continuation of our economic recovery.”
She added, “Alabama has an unemployment rate of 3.8%, the lowest in the Southeast, and significantly lower than the national unemployment rate. Our Department of Labor is reporting that there are more available jobs now than prior to the pandemic. Jobs are out there.”
In addition on Monday, Reeves tweeted, “The purpose of unemployment benefits is to temporarily assist Mississippians who are unemployed through no fault of their own. After many conversations over the last several weeks with Mississippi small business owners and their employees, it has become clear that the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and other like programs passed by the Congress may have been necessary in May of last year but are no longer so in May of this year.”
“Therefore, I have informed the Department of Employment Security to direct the Biden Administration that Mississippi will be opting out of the additional federal unemployment benefits as early as federal law allows – June 12, 2021,” Reeves added. “It has become clear to me that we cannot have a full economic recovery until we get the thousands of available jobs in our state filled. I have also directed MDES to prioritize pre-pandemic enforcement of all eligibility requirements for any individual to receive unemployment benefits under state law. Mississippi is open for business!”
On Tuesday, Hutchinson told CNN, “Our economy has come back, we have jobs aplenty, we have employers that are begging workers to come to their place of business.
“We cannot pay extra compensations for workers to stay home — we need them in the place of employment,” he added. “If they need assistance in finding a job, we’ll provide that to them. If they need child care assistance, we have more than ample resources to assist in that as well.”
Burgum, in a statement on Monday, said, “These federal unemployment programs were meant to supplement state benefits and provide short-term relief for displaced and vulnerable workers, and these programs have accomplished their goals but are now counterproductive.”
“Safe, effective vaccines have been available to every adult in North Dakota for months now, and we have an abundance of job openings with employers who are eager to hire,” Burgum added.
Finally, on Tuesday, Reynolds said in a statement, “Now that our businesses and schools have reopened, these payments are discouraging people from returning to work.”
“Our unemployment rate is at 3.7%, vaccines are available to anyone who wants one and we have more jobs available than unemployed people.”
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