Miami Group Protests House Proposal To Cut Jobless Benefits
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) - After traveling more than eight hours by bus to make their cause heard, a group from Miami demonstrated in Tallahassee on Wednesday urging law makers not to cut unemployment benefits.
"It's time for others to share the burden and not to have the low income families of Florida to pay that price," said Maria Rodriguez with the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
She said she came to Tallahassee to personally urge South Florida Representative Carlos Trujillo to vote against slashing benefits.
"You are not doing your job of representing the interests of the people of South Florida or hard working unemployed and barely surviving people that need the little bit that they get," Rodriguez told Trujillo.
Just before noon, Rodriguez joined the others in waving protest signs outside the Capital, hoping to sway legislators before they walk onto the floor of the Florida House to decide on a proposal which would slash unemployment benefits from 26 week to 20 weeks. If Florida's unemployment rate, which is now around 12 percent, should drop to 5 percent, benefits would only be extended 12 weeks.
"Governor Scott, where's the jobs. Apparently there's no work out there," said Savaria Williams who is out of work and unable to find a job. "I think crime will go down if we get some work. Not that we need to do crime, but need to focus on helping the man who's trying to help himself. We're not lazy people."
The theory behind the House measure is that employers would pay less in unemployment tax thus they would have more money to hire more workers.
"How many of the people here want a job," Trujillo (R-Kendall) asked the gathering from Miami. "Everybody here wants a job. We're working to give employers the ability to grow their businesses and expand their businesses, to have enough capital to continue to grow. Nobody here wants to receive unemployment, people here want to work."
Opponents of the measure say it does nothing but make the rich richer.
"Something bad is happening in Florida. What's happening is if you make $20 million dollars a years in the State of Florida, laws are being put in place in place to allow you to keep all of it," said Rep. Geraldine Thompson (D-Orlando).
The Republican-dominated House voted down several amendments in debate Wednesday before the bill was slated for debate and a final vote Thursday. Rep. Doug Holder, a Sarasota Republican, is sponsoring the measure in the House.
