GOP idea: Forgivable unemployment loans
Program would be bridge while waiting on claims
MADISON – Assembly Republicans are calling on Gov. Tony Evers to set up a forgivable loan program to help a portion of those who have yet to receive unemployment insurance during the course of the coronavirus pandemic.
Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke of Kaukauna, during a news conference Wednesday outside of the state Capitol, called on the Democratic governor’s administration to do more to help out those waiting on payments.
The Republicans proposed the state offer interest-free, forgivable bridge loans to the 140,000 who are awaiting adjudication of their unemployment insurance claims, which could be put in place by Evers using federal money meant to respond to the pandemic.
The plan would provide hundreds of dollars a week to those who are waiting for their payments.
The goal is to help families pay bills and buy food while they wait, Steineke said. The program could be funded using $40 million or more of the billions of dollars in money the state received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Republicans said.
According to a memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, the $40 million could help more than 30,000 people with loans of about $1,300 each or about 11,000 people with loans of about $3,700.
Steineke did not address how those who receive the loans would be chosen. Nygren said in a tweet that the program is “scalable” and more than $40 million could be spent on it if more people needed loans.
“This has been one of the most egregious things we’ve heard during this COVID-19 pandemic, our constituents having to suffer from having their employment shut down and yet no unemployment relief coming to them,” said
Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc. “This simply isn’t acceptable.”
The news conference came on the heels of an announcement by the Department of Workforce Development that nearly triple the number of employees have been hired to deal with the influx of claims related to the coronavirus.
Those employees are now handling thousands of claims, some dating back to mid-March when the pandemic began.
Between March 15 and July 4, the department has received nearly 4 million weekly unemployment claims, and paid out nearly 3 million, with another nearly 463,000 weekly claims being denied,
according to a July 7 release. That adds up to 3.4 million claims that have been addressed so far by the department.
But nearly 539,000 weekly claims are still waiting to be paid out, needing some sort of adjudication, the release said. Those claims break down into 140,000 unique individuals still waiting to hear whether they’ll qualify for unemployment money.
According to data from the department, 728,705 total unemployment applications have been received since the start of the pandemic and more than $2.4 billion has been paid out, including money from the federal pandemic assistance programs that adds $600 to every unemployment check through July 25.
Between June 27 and July 4, the department was able to adjudicate 1,110 cases according to numbers from releases and has 548 staff members working on adjudication.
Aides to Evers did not say what they thought of the Republican proposal.
Democratic Rep. Daniel Riemer of Milwaukee said he was glad to hear Republicans wanted to address issues related to unemployment insurance, but said he was concerned their proposal would further complicate an already complicated system. He said Republicans were to blame for some of the problems the state is now facing because of limits they have put on the program over the last decade.
“If it were to further complicate a system that was already complicated by the GOP, I think they may be trying to put out the fire with a different fire,” he said.
The Assembly Republicans noted that the Department of Workforce Development likely couldn’t manage the loan program while also addressing unemployment issues. The loan program could be run by the Department of Revenue or another government agency, they said. Steineke also said the priority should just be to get money out the door to those who need it most.
“How long can people go without any income and without being able to pay their bills?” he said. “This is a clear way with the money available through the federal CARES Act, that we can get relief to people.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester said in a news release called on Evers to do more to help those who have faced months without income due to the pandemic.
“People are tired of waiting for the Evers administration to get its act together and we’re all tired of the administration’s excuses. There are families who are struggling to get by and they need help now,” Vos said.