(The Center Square) – The state is applying to get Illinoisans who are out of a job because of the pandemic a temporary $300 boost in unemployment benefits, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker made it clear that he doesn’t like the federal program.
Pritzker announced this week that Illinois is applying for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover a boost in unemployment insurance. In a statement, Pritzker said the program creates needless competition among states, sows confusion and that beneficiaries will encounter frustrations and unfairness brought on by “the President’s short-sighted and short lived program.”
State Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, said the governor’s criticism was inappropriate and unprofessional. Caulkins said the FEMA program has made $44 billion available nationally on a short-term basis.
“This plan was implemented as a bridge to help people get off of unemployment and encourage them to get back to work,” Caulkins said.
He said the program was necessary because Congress failed to extend any pandemic benefits.
Instead of complaining about the president’s program, Caulkins said Pritzker needs to address the state’s problems. He said the Restore Illinois Collaborative Commission he’s on was supposed to take up failings at the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
“Two weeks ago, last week, this week, maybe next week,” he said of the failed meetings.
Caulkins said what needs to happen is a full and open hearings about the state’s unemployment crisis.
“We need to have a discussion with the director and not just the director but their underlings and we need to talk about what’s going on, what can be done to fix it and how do we get people paid what they’re rightfully owed for unemployment,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state is getting $2.4 million from the federal government to combat unemployment insurance fraud. The taxpayer-funded grant from the Department of Labor covers the recently created unemployment programs as part of COVID-19 relief.
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said the funds will help state officials crack down on fraud. More than 100,000 instances of alleged unemployment fraud were reported by the Pritzker administration last month.
Illinois had more than 1.4 million first time unemployment filers in the weeks since the beginning of March. While the numbers of new filers had declined week over week, there was an uptick of nearly 3,000 new filings reported for the week before last.
