Here's a
piece of the Republican payroll tax cut extension bill that hasn't gotten a lot of ink.
The GOP package also would require individuals who have not completed high school to enroll in a GED program in order to receive jobless benefits, and would give states the authority to make drug testing a requirement for applicants.
That's punitive for every unemployed worker, but particularly for older workers.
The provision, part of the full-year payroll-tax bill that the House passed in December, would deny UI benefits to anyworker who lacks a high school diploma or GED and is not enrolled in classes to get one or the other — regardless of how long the person worked or whether he or she has access to adult education, which itself has been subject to significant budget cuts in the past few years and is heavily oversubscribed.
The provision would hit large numbers of older laid-off workers. Nearly half (47 percent) of UI recipients with less than a high school education or the equivalent are over age 45, and 35 percent are age 50 or over, Census data show. In 2010, half a million workers age 50 or over who received unemployment insurance lacked a high school diploma. By contrast, less than one-fifth of UI recipients without a high school diploma or the equivalent are under age 30.
For most of these individuals, who may have worked for 30 years or more, returning to high school makes little sense. And adult education, even when it might be useful because the workers are younger, very often isn’t available due in part to federal and state budget cuts.
There's no policy reason at all. Just typical punitive, hating-on-the-less-fortunate Republican way. And one more provision for the Democrats to fight from being included in the eventual plan.