Georgia Workers Call Out Loeffler For Refusing to Support Critical Expanded Unemployment Relief

After Republicans like Loeffler let relief lapse and Georgia officials remain “tight-lipped” about whether state can or will proceed with Trump’s order, workers call on Loeffler to quit stalling and take action

ATLANTA — Yesterday, Georgia workers called out Senator Kelly Loeffler for stalling on coronavirus relief and refusing to extend the $600 per week emergency benefit as she claims she doesn’t see “a big need to extend the federal unemployment insurance” in the midst of a recession.

Instead of listening to Georgia workers, Loeffler has praised President Donald Trump’s reckless order that cuts federal emergency unemployment relief in half while potentially “creating a financial headache” for states facing budget shortfalls. Governor* Brian Kemp earlier gave “no hint as to whether Georgia would – or could – pony up the money” under the order.

Her GOP opponent, Congressman Doug Collins, is also firmly against extending critical relief for out-of-work Georgians. Collins has called to “cut back” on expanded unemployment relief “or do away with it altogether.” When it comes to Georgians in need, Georgia’s Republican Senate contenders are nowhere to be found.

Read more about Republicans’ refusal to support needed aid:

Capitol Beat: Union workers protest Loeffler over unemployment benefits in Atlanta

• Dozens of airport, restaurant and hotel workers protested outside the Atlanta office of U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Tuesday over stalled talks in Congress on a new federal aid package amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Felicia Fashina, 55, said she has tried returning to her job at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport but that her employer has not brought back nearly as many workers as before the pandemic, forcing “skeleton crews” of shorthanded staff to juggle multiple tasks.

• Now, her school loans and medical costs she covers for her elderly mother are piling up, even as she remains unable to afford a $500 monthly COBRA insurance payment offered by her employer to out-of-work staff.

• “No one’s asking to get rich,” Fashina said. “We just want to survive, that’s all.”

• Rodney Watts, 54, has also been unable to pay for COBRA insurance after being sent home from his 10-year job as an airport overnight supervisor in March amid the pandemic.

• Many critics of Trump’s executive order have questioned whether states like Georgia will be able to cover the 25% costs of the $400 weekly benefit, noting state governments are already facing huge budget cuts spurred by the economic slowdown.

• [Loeffler’s] main Republican opponent in the free-for-all special election, U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, has supported lowering the virus-prompted federal unemployment benefit or doing away with it entirely.

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