BATON ROUGE, La. – Republican House lawmakers have started advancing a proposal to offer Louisiana residents receiving unemployment up to $1,000 to go back to work.
But workers would have to give up their right to claim jobless benefits for six months.
GOP lawmakers on the House labor committee added the language from Rep. Mike Echols into a separate measure that sought to modestly increase the maximum weekly unemployment benefit in Louisiana.
The vote to add the incentive provision was 6-5. Republicans supported the measure and Democrats opposed it.
Republicans say federal unemployment benefits are discouraging people from seeking work. Democrats object to requiring people to give up unemployment rights.
