Milwaukee City Wire

Wisconsin Sen. Chris Larson is upset with his Republican colleagues for introducing bills he said will make unemployment benefits more difficult to obtain. Yet, Republicans say that’s the objective of their Stronger Workforce Initiative — to weed out those taking advantage of the benefits by refusing to work.

“The opportunists in the Wisconsin Republican Party spend months during the pandemic acting like they cared about delayed unemployment benefits, then proved it was all a lie by putting out an entire package of bills to reduce benefits and make them much harder to get,” Larson said on his Twitter account.

Republicans view the Stronger Workforce Initiative as a multi-pronged approach to address the employment crisis facing small businesses in Wisconsin. Many of the businesses remain understaffed though many receiving unemployment benefits are able to work, according to Republicans.

“Everyone has seen the enormous amount of ‘help wanted’ signs throughout Wisconsin,” Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) said in a release on his website. “Employers are desperate to fill vacant jobs, and the lack of willing workers has reached crisis levels. There’s an abundance of high-wage jobs and a large number of available workers. The Stronger Workforce Initiative will help remove the government-created barriers between the two.”

The Department of Workforce Development will create additional investigative responsibilities under the package of bills.

Under one of the proposed bills, if someone receiving unemployment benefits doesn’t show up for a scheduled job interview, the DWD would be required to investigate. Another bill would require DWD to match claimants with suitable work and aid in their transition to full employment. Yet another bill would allow data sharing between government agencies and update systems that check eligibility to ensure up-to-date information is used to calculate benefits.

Kapenga said Republicans want to create “smarter government programs” that benefit the truly needy and not those who are able to work.

“It is clear the opportunities for Wisconsin’s workforce have changed, and our government systems need to change along with them,” he said.