Arkansas GOP Senate Sticks It To Unemployed

Imagine a single mother of two laid off from work when her company decided to downsize. To make ends meet, while she looked for another job, she went on unemployment. No matter what she wanted to do, she has a family to feed.

Here is what the GOP-controlled State Senate did yesterday to help her and other unemployed Arkansans – they voted to cut unemployment benefits.

And, oh, yeah, they voted to have them pee in a cup to prove they’re not hopped-up on drugs.

SB 875, sponsored by Republican Senator Bart Hester, reduces maximum unemployment benefits by $126 per week.

Hester, as you may recall, seems almost like a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Crossland family, since much of his 2012 contributions came from them and their corporations.

Families barely scraping by will soon have have less to feed their families since Arkansas Republicans voted against the interests of those needing help getting back on their feet. In short, Senate Republicans voted to make it harder for displaced workers to feed their families.

Republicans argued that businesses needed to hold onto to more of their money in hopes they would hire more people. Sounds great in theory, but tell that to the family who can’t afford groceries and can’t get hired.

To their credit, seven Democratic Senators spoke passionately against this bill on the floor yesterday, where unfortunately it passed 19-12 with only Republicans voting for it.

The bill is now in the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor where Democrats outnumber Republicans. The bill may die a quiet death, provided the committee votes along party lines as the Senate did on Monday.

Unfortunately, as a whole, Arkansas Democrats missed yet another opportunity to fight on the battleground of economic populism.

The good news is that the bill may die in committee. The bad news for Democrats is, so far, they missed another opportunity to define themselves and Republicans on who is looking out for Arkansas families.

I’ve previously written about Jeremy Hutchinson’s bill. SB38, that requires drug testing of those on unemployment, so no need to cover old ground.

Suffice it to say other states have found this type of drug testing program to be a waste of time and money, since folks rarely tested positive for drugs. SB38 also passed yesterday, but it did get some Democratic votes.

Republican votes yesterday against Arkansas families struggling to make ends meet encapsulate much of the GOP’s philosophy. Unfortunately, Democrats haven’t quite figured out how to point that glaring fact out to Arkansans.