Bill ending federal unemployment supplement passes North Carolina legislature

A bill ending the pandemic federal unemployment supplement passed the North Carolina House and Senate.

The bill passed along party lines with no Democrats in the Senate and only three Democrats in the House approving the measure, The Associated Press reported.

The bill would end the pandemic federal unemployment supplement that gave an extra $300 a week to the unemployed. 

Many Republican-led states have already opted out of the unemployment program, which is set to expire in September. 

Republicans argue the extra unemployment benefits are causing a labor shortage for businesses and incentivizing people not to go back to work.

It is not clear if North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) will veto the bill.

State Sen. Chuck Edwards (R) proposed keeping the federal unemployment benefit but also using federal money to create a $1,500 signing bonus for those who go back to work. The governor previously said he would consider the idea, but it did not make the final cut.

The bill did include using federal money to give government subsidies for child care to everyone on the waiting list, but that did not sway Democrats.

A Democratic representative on the House floor said he expects the governor to veto the bill.

The bill comes after North Carolina’s senators urged the governor to end the federal unemployment benefits.

“The employment shortage caused by exorbitant federal unemployment benefits is a real and serious threat to North Carolina’s recovery,” Republican Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) said in a statement to Cooper.