The Progressive Pulse: “Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday vetoed a bill that would have ended the extra $300-a-week in federal money that unemployed people in the state receive.
Republicans pushed the bill, saying the federal unemployment insurance supplement s contributing to a labor shortage because it keeps people from looking for work.
Others argue that it’s a lack of childcare, worry about contracting COVID, or people seeking jobs better than the ones they had that’s contributing to the struggles employers are having filling vacancies.
More than 20 Republican-led states have opted out of the federal unemployment supplement.
All North Carolina Senate Democrats voted against the bill, making it unlikely that the legislature will be able to override Cooper’s veto. The federal unemployment supplement is set to expire September 6 of this year. Three House Democrats joined Republicans in passing the bill by a vote of 66-44.
Senate bill 116 also directed $250 million from this year’s federal rescue plan be used for subsidized childcare.
Senate Republicans initially proposed offering signing bonuses to people who took jobs, anticipating Cooper would veto a measure cutting off the federal supplement.
Cooper, a Democrat, said in his veto message that ending the supplemental benefit would hurt the state.”