WisGOP scheme to hand out unemployment checks would be wasteful and a corporate bailout

After complaining for months about the state's backlog of unemployment claims, Wisconsin Republicans finally came up with some kind of idea to fix a problem that's largely the result of Republican efforts to cut down on fraud and frustrate applicants.

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, during a news conference Wednesday afternoon outside of the state Capitol, called on the Evers administration to do more to help out those waiting on payments.

The group proposed the state offer interest-free, forgivable bridge loans to the 140,000 who are awaiting adjudicationof their unemployment insurance claims, which could be enacted by Evers under the CARES Act.

The plan would provide $327 per week, covering only the state's portion of unemployment, for up to four weeks. Those who have been put out of work during the coronavirus are eligible for an additional $600 a week in unemployment insurance under a program that is set to expire at the end of the month. Democrats in Congress have tried to extend it, but Republicans have opposed it because they see the additional payments as a disincentive to returning to work.

So Republicans still wouldn't do anything in terms of coming up with a bill, but it's more a recommendation on what Evers could do with what remains from the state's funds in the CARES Act, which has to be used up by the end of the year.

State Rep. John Nygren described the plan and its funding this way.

The Governor has discretion over the use of federal Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) in the CARES Act. The CRF funds can be used for emergency relief to individuals that have lost income due to COVID-19 and can be issued as loans in certain circumstances. Roughly $280 million remains to be allocated by the Governor. The Governor should explore issuing direct payments or loans to individuals that have been waiting for their UI claim to be completed since the COVID-19 emergency began. Other criteria can be added to qualify for this emergency relief so individuals who have had no income for months can get some cash for emergency expenses. Repayments of the forgivable loans could be deposited into the UI Trust Fund to offset employer taxes. Every $10 million used could provide the average state regular UI payment for four weeks to nearly 8,000 claimants. This could provide a bridge to give DWD time to get its act together. The program could be voluntary and scalable.

Oh, so now Johnny thinks that we should give unemployment applicants the benefit of the doubt and pay them first? So now Republicans don't want their main emphasis to be stopping unemployment fraud? Sort of like what was done with the PPP handouts that magically ended up in the pockets of people like Robbin' Vos? Funny how these guys change their stance on welfare once their (white) constituents started getting laid off and facing other financial difficulties, isn't it?

The whole "loan" part of this scheme seems odd. Would someone have to fill out an extra ream of paperwork just to get the loan, and how do you force these individuals to pay back these loans? And then Nygren talks about how the payments would replenish the state's unemployment fund instead of having employers pay taxes into it? Seems wasteful and a sketchy scheme to bail out the WMC crowd for laying off their workers.

Former UW professor Donald Moynihan (who teamed up with fellow former UW prof Pamela Herd to write a great book about the type of barriers and red tape that are plaguing the unemployed) noted that duplication of effort, and said it would be hard to clear backlogged claims when the Evers Administration would have to set up another new program at DWD.

Details about the WI plan are sketchy, but, the primary problem is the state is struggling to process claims and verify eligibility. Which it would have to do with a means-tested loan program, while also creating new administrative processes: 4/ pic.twitter.com/SLsYR2uxN9

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) July 8, 2020

So the GOP's plan is not that workable (nor "scalable", whatever the hell Nygren means by that), and I don't see any long-term ideas when it comes to improving staffing or infrastructure at DWD in case we continue to get large amounts of layoffs and claims for the coming years.

In addition, unemployment claims started to spike nearly 4 months ago, and just now the GOP is trying to put together some sort of plan to deal with it beyond whining? In the meantime, they used that time to make it harder for first responders to get workers' comp, despite their increased exposure to COVID. WisGOP also had no problem filing lawsuits to strike down the state's Safer at Home order, and then turned down proposed rules from Gov Evers that would have at least given an outline to communities after the Wisconsin Supreme Court gave their decision.

Because let's face it, GOPs really don't care much about the thousands of Wisconsinites whose hard times have become even harder because they can't get their unemployment benefits. They only care about trying to score political points, as shown by their lack of interest in fixing the problems that their policies have caused, and their inability to meet and pass laws that would help to speed the process to get Wisconsinites those benefits.