Still no agreement on unemployment benefits

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - Missourians may soon be without their extended unemployment benefits. 23,000 Missourians still don't know whether they will see an unemployment check after April 3rd.

The senate adjourned for break without voting on a plan to accept $81 million in federal money to extend benefits from 79 to 99 weeks.

St. Louis County Republican Senator Jim Lembke previously filibustered the bill, saying it is wrong for the federal government to send borrowed money to states.

"If you went next door to your neighbor's house and went into their children's bedroom and stole their piggy bank. I mean, we're stealing from the next generation," he says.

Lembke reports that he's been getting more calls from people in other states than in Missouri.

"They're afraid that their state legislatures, you know, might get the same idea and it would affect them. My office responding to them is saying, well what the Senator is doing in Missouri doesn't affect you in Pennsylvania," Lembke says.

Leading Senate Republicans say they will use stronger measures if Lembke and his supporters continue to filibuster this bill.

Andrew Weil, Missouri Digital News

Posted in: Jim Lembke,Missouri Digital News,Missouri Senate,unemployment