State Senate Passes Restrictions on Unemployment, Bills Likely to be Vetoed

Thursday, June 8th, 2023 -- 11:00 AM

(Raymond Neupert, WRN) The state senate voted Wednesday to restrict access to unemployment benefits.

The state senate voted Wednesday to restrict access to unemployment benefits. The bills would increase the number of reasons someone could be denied, including declining to take an offered position, and add new drug testing rules.

Minority leader Melissa Agard of Madison says the bills do little to help people. "Instead, what we're doing is taking up bills aimed at making it harder to garner earned unemployment benefits during a time of record low unemployment in our state. Do you see the cognitive dissonance here?"
 
Agard continued, "These bills are solutions in search of problems. This is a cynical distraction from the work that we should be doing. But thankfully, they're not becoming law."

Agard added, "If current migration trends continue, Wisconsin will have 130,000 fewer workers between the ages of 25 and 64 by the age of 2030." The Madison Democrat says lawmakers should be passing policies to attract young people to Wisconsin, and not punish people who need help. The bills are likely to be vetoed when they reach Governor Tony Evers.

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