Gov. Abbott Slashes Safety Net for a Million Texans

The widespread of the pandemic had devastating effects on employment rates, leaving millions of people jobless throughout the country.

As unemployment rose to alarming levels, Congress and former President Trump approved a $600 aid a week in March 2020 for those who lost their jobs. In July, the rescue stipend was then halved to $300 a week.

The official cut to this safety net for unemployed Americans comes from the idea that the weekly supplement was disincentivizing the search for work, leaving many businessmen without their workforce.

Governor Greg Abbott is the newest member of the now 17 GOP governors that have cut the aid, following Georgia, Montana, Tennessee, Ohio, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Utah, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota.

Even though there has not been any proven relation between this aid and the apparent under demand for jobs, the intention of this GOP-led movement is to boost the economy by leaving people helpless, as a way to motivate them into joining the workforce.

According to the Dallas Morning News, nearly 1 million Texans remained unemployed and dependent upon benefit payments for income in March.

In spite of this, Abbot was pressured into the decision by the Texas Association of Business and more than 30 business groups, who sent a joint statement to the governor on Thursday.

“Employers believe that supplemental benefit payments from Washington is disincentivizing work and resulting in many good Texas jobs going unfilled” the letter read.

As announced on Monday afternoon, the cuts to the safety net for unemployed Texans -funds that came from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program- will be made effective June 26, 2021.