Attend the Tale of Florida's Failed Unemployment System: José Javier Rodríguez Warns U.S. Senate Finance Committee

A Florida Politics piece highlighted Florida State Senator José Javier Rodríguez' ('06) recent testimony before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee as they considered extending the $600 per week pandemic assistance benefit ("José Javier Rodríguez Hammers Florida Unemployment System: 'Slow, Unreliable and Inept in General'," June 9). "For hundreds of thousands of Floridians, [the Department of Economic Opportunity's] system was inaccessible for at least the first half of the crisis, punctuated by unmet, ever-changing goals and seemingly never-ending mishaps. … This experience should serve as a lesson to other states. States that shrink, starve and ignore their unemployment system one day may have their state legislators delivering such remarks. Federal oversight is needed over states' unemployment systems, along with resources to modernize their infrastructure. CARES Act programs ought to remain in place until recovery has reached all sectors."
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