Unemployment lines in Texas are stretching longer than ever before. Available funds for unemployment benefits have almost run out. Still, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he's rejecting more than half a billion dollars in federal stimulus money that would go toward his state's unemployment fund. "My remarks to Washington is, we have had that debate, we have voted on this, and we don't want it," said Perry.
Perry said accepting the money would mean changing the law so that employers may be burdened with higher taxes in the future something he does not want to do. Perry is one of a handful of governors who may turn down federal stimulus dollars for their states because they don't agree with the attachment provisions. And South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford said he will only accept the money on one condition: that he can use a quarter of his allocated funds, about $700-million dollars, to pay down state debt. "We've come to the conclusion that it does not make sense to spend money that we do not have," said Stanford.
The governors may not have the final say in whether their states will reject the money. The stimulus law has a provision that allows state legislators to override opposition from their governors so the states can get the money anyway."This never really was the governor's call, whether we do it or not," said Texas State Rep. Jim Dunnam.
Democratic lawmakers are blasting the governor's decisions, warning that not accepting these funds could leave families that are already hurting financially in dire straits unable to keep their homes and pay their bills
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