Abbott Cuts Texas Ties To Unemployment Benefits: Back to Work!

DALLAS, TX — Hey, you! Goldbricker!! Lazybones!! Back to work!! This ain't no Welfare State!!

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday he will remove Texas from the Federal Pandemic Program and thereby end the $300 weekly supplement for unemployed residents. The Lone Star State will opt out June 26. Some 20 other governors have already taken the same course.

Abbott's rationale: “The Texas economy is booming and employers are hiring in communities throughout the state,” said a statement issued by the governor's office. “According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the number of job openings in Texas is almost identical to the number of Texans who are receiving unemployment benefits."

As of March, there were a million jobless Texans receiving state and federal assistance. Nearly half of the states across the nation, 21 to be exact, have so far announced plans to end participation in the program before it's slated to end the first week of September.

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Abbott's sunny assessment of available positions, he states, does not even include the "voluminous jobs that typically are not listed, like construction and restaurant jobs. In fact, there are nearly 60 percent more jobs open (and listed) in Texas today than there was(sic) in February 2020, the month before the Pandemic hit Texas.”

Just so that we get where the governor's coming from: People who have a loved one suffering from COVID-19 or dealing with child care issues? Quit whining. You have a whole six weeks to figure it out. Get cracking.

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell believes it's a smart move too because state leaders, he said, will now "take matters into their own hands and turn off these extra-generous benefits.”

When did $300 become "extra-generous?" At the moment, the average benefit awarded to an unemployed Texan hovers at less than $250 a week, with no one eligible for more than $521.

Who's living like royalty off these funds?

Abbott's decision lays bare one of the oldest arguments in America: People only work when they're compelled to do so, because human beings are inherently without motivation and are always looking to game the system.

That same schism brought on labor riots a century ago and gave rise to the five-day work week and child labor laws. But it also began the legend of so-called Welfare Moms who have litters of kids simply to collect government assistance and drive to the grocery store in their Cadillacs with food stamps bulging from their purses.

Abbott's statement addresses this too, in none-too-coded language: "Another reason why today’s action is needed is the high level of fraudulent unemployment claims being filed," the statement reads. "Fraudulent unemployment claims rob taxpayer money and do nothing to help the unemployed. TWC estimates that nearly 18 percent of all claims for unemployment benefits during the pandemic are confirmed or suspected to be fraudulent, which totals more than 800,000 claims, worth as much as $10.4 billion, if all claims had been paid."

Other states, it's been reported, are offering incentives to return to work. Texas? Not so much. Arizonans, for example, will provide a $2,000 bonus for those returning to work and remain for 10 consecutive weeks. Arizona will leave the federal assistance program July 10.

In Montana, assistance will end June 27. But in his May 4 announcement to end federal payments, Gov. Greg Gianforte also helped to establish a $1,200 back-to-work bonus.

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