Wis Dems have ideas on lowering unemployment backlog. But record claims keep getting filed

After months of complaints from Wisconsinites regarding the inability of people to get unemployment benefits after getting laid off, and with 1 in 10 claims still to be decided, Assembly Democrats came out with a list of changes that would remove some of the barriers that has kept people from getting their money.

Seems like we needed to see more legislation on this subject from legislators from both parties sometime in the 4 months since COVID-19 broke out. But regardless, it's something, and here's a good rundown of what these bills would do.

Here are the eight bills Assembly Democrats are proposing to expand eligibility for unemployment benefits: pic.twitter.com/sm3lgq786z

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) July 16, 2020

The waiting period, $500 wage threshold, suitable work, and a version of the work search changes were part of Tony Evers' 2019-21 budget proposals for DWD. The WisGOP Legislature took those items out of the budget, and kept the barriers that are in place.

Naturally, the WisGOPs also are planning to reject the Dems' proposals for changing unemployment rules in 2020, and it led to this gaffe from Assembly Speaker Robbin' Vos.

In a statement, @SpeakerVos says the package is "admitting that the governor's UI response has been a failure."

It goes on to say, "Democrats are trying to reinstate failed policies when their elimination contributed to record low unemployment." pic.twitter.com/jnDilhP1hG

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) July 16, 2020

In addition to the garbage partisanship of the statement, Vos is bascially admitting that the barriers put in place were done with the intent of keeping Wisconsinites from getting unemployment benefits they were entitled to. And by proxy, keeping the taxes that employers pay into the unemployment fund artificially low.

As former UW professor Pamela Herd noted a couple of months ago, WisGOP's "reforms" were quite successful in turning deserving beneficiaries away.

Here’s the trend in fraction unemployed receiving UI in WI compared to national trends. WI fell from a 46% rate to 31% between 2010-19, while US rate was stable. Walker reforms were largely administrative, making it harder to get and keep UI 2/ pic.twitter.com/nGluj6PyO0

— Pam Herd (@pamela_herd) May 23, 2020

And while ex-Governor Walker gives typical BS evasions on why he signed off on all of these added paperwork, the marginally employed college dropout is at least recognizing another big reason claims aren't getting paid.

Walker said, "there's changes they can make but the changes aren't because of policies made in the past, it's changes because it's just such an incredible backlog."@Emilee_WKOW followed up on the issue and Walker maintained the real issue is people unable to get through to DWD.

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) July 16, 2020

Let's not forget that still have an unprecedented amount of unemployment claims, both in Wisconsin and nationwide. There have been at least 1 million new claims filed in each of the last 17 weeks in America, and more than 30 million continuing claims have filed every week since early May.

Likewise, there have been 17 straight weeks in Wisconsin that have had new claims of 24,000 or more, and there are still more than 200,000 continuing "regular" claims a week, well over what we had at the start of March.

And with the state setting records for new COVID-19 claims in each of the last 3 weeks, it doesn't seem like the onslaught of unemployment payments will subside any time soon.

That bad jobs situation helps explain why Republicans in Wisconsin are spending so much time whining about the lack of unemployment payments. Better to play partisan games by complaining about the lack of payments instead of dealing with the Trump/GOP failures on COVID-19 that are a big reason behind all these added claims, and the huge amount of paperwork that claimants have to fill out, and DWD workers have to slog through.