In case you missed it: legislature ignores Kinder and extends unemployment benefits

One of the happier moments of Friday's madness was the legislature's decision to enable more out-of-work Missourians to collect unemployment benefits, and for a longer period. Facing 25-year-high unemployment numbers, the about-face from legislative leaders didn't come a moment too soon. 

Under the legislation passed Friday, unemployed workers can collect additional weeks of benefits when the state unemployment rate exceeds 6.5% through December, and workers can also receive benefits if they lose their jobs due to a "compelling family reason." The state is eligible for $133 million in federal stimulus money to fund the benefits.

The legislature's change of heart is particularly interesting because of the vociferous opposition from Lt. Governor Peter Kinder to any kind of extension or expansion of unemployment benefits with federal recovery dollars. Kinder, you may recall, even described the stimulus money for said benefits as a "bribe."

Jason Rosenbaum has the video: 

Kinder was joined in his outrage by Speaker Ron Richard, Sen. President Pro Tem Charlie Shields, Reps. Kevin Wilson, Mark Parkinson, Eric Burlison, Barney Fisher and others, who described the change as a "tax increase" that would "absolutely inappropriate."  A bad economy is the worst possible time to help more unemployed people, the reasoning went. 

At this point, House and Senate journals are not available online, so it's not clear how may of the legislators at Kinder's press conference changed their minds about taking the "bribe" to help unemployed families. We'll post an update when that information is available.   

Fortunately, in the end, legislative leaders decided to abandon Kinder's rhetoric and short-sighted politicking, and chose to help Missouri's struggling families.

Note: the photo above is from the Missourinet story on Kinder's February press conference, found here. 

UPDATE: Barney Fisher's legislation to expand unemployment benefits passed on May 15 by a 148-9 vote in the House. Richard, Burlison and Wilson were all on board. In the Senate, it passed 30-4.