FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The plight of Kentuckians still in limbo in seeking unemployment benefits has become a major political headache for the state’s Democratic governor, opening him up to criticism Thursday from Republican leaders who have given him considerable latitude in handling the coronavirus crisis.
This week, hundreds of people frustrated with long delays in getting their jobless claims processed converged on Frankfort to protest. Some have been waiting since March for benefits.
It turned into an opportunity for them to get face-to-face assistance.
Long lines formed as people met with state unemployment staff who set up a make-shift office behind the Capitol to help with claims. Some people waited hours to get help. The service was offered Tuesday and Wednesday outside the statehouse, then moved to another location Thursday.
A few dozen people who stood in line up to 10 hours earlier in the week were turned away before being helped. Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday he instructed state staff to contact each of them and prioritize their claims.
Beshear has wrangled with complaints about the pace of processing jobless claims since Kentucky, like other states, was hit by massive job losses and furloughs amid coronavirus-related business lockdowns meant to contain the virus’s spread. Now that restrictions are easing and businesses have reopened, the problem of clearing the backlog of claims has persisted.
Kentucky was hit by record-setting waves of claims for jobless assistance.
“My job isn’t to make excuses,” Beshear said Wednesday. “It’s to get things done. We should have done better by now. We’re looking at every option to make sure we’re doing better going forward.”
The House Republican leadership team said Thursday that despite Beshear’s reassurances, “too many Kentuckians feel forgotten and discarded by a program that exists to provide them a safety net.” The House GOP leaders called it a “massive failure of leadership” by Beshear’s administration, leaving Kentuckians who have gone months without a paycheck as “the collateral damage.”
“The unemployment insurance debacle is a disaster, and this week’s last minute opening of a pop-up office on the grounds of the Capitol only further drives home the point that his administration can do the right thing, but for some inexplicable reason, they continue to ignore problems until they fester beyond control,” the GOP House leaders said in a statement.
The Kentuckians getting help at the makeshift office amounted to a “drop in the bucket” compared to the tens of thousands still awaiting benefits, they said.
The governor acknowledged Wednesday that a “more comprehensive, better plan in all parts of the state” is needed to improve the unemployment insurance process.
Beshear also pointed to decisions by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration to consolidate those services. Beshear unseated Bevin in last year’s election.
“There used to be large offices for unemployment insurance all around the state,” Beshear said. “And the last administration, they significantly consolidated and reduced those.”
Taking up the issue again Thursday, Beshear noted the state unemployment office suffered deep budget cuts in the last decade. In 2017, when Bevin was in office, nearly half of the local unemployment offices were cut, Beshear said. Meanwhile, the number of statewide jobless claims surged from 190,000 in 2019 to about 900,000 in just three months of this year as the state tried to manage with an antiquated system, he said.
“It is a perfect storm that results in so many people who have had to wait far, far too long that haven’t been helped and I know are at their wits end,” he said.
The House Republican leaders said their concerns were based on feedback from constituents, not an effort to score political points against the Democratic governor.
“They are in fact the result of thousands of constituent phone calls, emails texts, and conversations with the people of our districts,” they said. “These men and women deserve and demand an equal, balanced, consistent, common sense approach and leadership.”
Beshear spoke of his hopes of bolstering staffing of unemployment offices. He also said he hoped to see bipartisan support to make it easier for people to obtain unemployment benefits.
“I hope we see the same type of buy-in that the safety net isn’t something that people are out there abusing,” he said. “It’s something that’s necessary in a time of crisis. And I hope that we will never starve these systems again.”
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up within weeks. For some, especially older adults and those with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, even death.
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