Babin: States should take 'necessary steps to end government handouts'

U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (R-Woodville) said instead of looking for a hand from the federal government, states should find ways to put the unemployed back to work.

Babin said the measure was not conducive to getting people back to work.

"Paying people more money to stay home than to go to work is clearly a bad idea,” he wrote on Twitter. “States need to take the necessary steps to end government handouts and get Americans back to work."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that federal unemployment benefits are no longer necessary and that the Texas economy is rebounding after the COVID-19 pandemic and added that there were a great deal of jobs in the state that needed to be filled, according to Houston Daily.

“The Texas economy is booming and employers are hiring in communities throughout the state,” Abbott said in a press release. “According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the number of job openings in Texas is almost identical to the number of Texans who are receiving unemployment benefits. That assessment does not include the voluminous jobs that typically are not listed, like construction and restaurant jobs. In fact, there are nearly 60% more jobs open (and listed) in Texas today than there was in February 2020, the month before the pandemic hit.

Texas opted out of further federal unemployment compensation starting on June 26, which included the $300 weekly unemployment supplement from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program.

Fox Business recently reported that many Republican governors have alleged that the additional cash prevented unemployed individuals from reentering the labor market, with Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said that the federal benefit was "an incentive for people not to work," slowing both employees’ return to work and job creation.

Proponents have countered that people were still scared of being infected with the virus and other dynamics such as adequate child care.