John Hanna, Associated Press
The Kansas Department of Labor s unemployment benefits website is pictured Dec. 29, 2020.
TOPEKA Republican legislators and a powerful business group are pushing a proposal to make it harder for unemployed Kansas workers to get extended benefits, arguing that extra weeks of aid are available even when thousands of jobs remain unfilled.
But the proposal before the GOP-controlled Legislature has sparked a backlash amid the economic uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, and Democrats see it as hurting struggling workers at exactly the wrong time. A key Republican lawmaker conceded Friday that it would be difficult to include the measure in broader legislation designed to overhaul the state’s troubled unemployment system.
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John Hanna, Associated Press
photo by: Associated Press
Kansas state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, left, R-Sedgwick, confers with Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, at the start of a debate over a Republican plan for cutting Kansas income taxes, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has denounced the plan as particularly irresponsible during the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
TOPEKA (AP) Republican lawmakers in Kansas are struggling to contain their impulses to slash state income taxes, conjuring memories of a past, nationally notorious GOP tax-cutting experiment as they try to enact some reductions over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s objections.